The Best Days and Times To Release A Podcast

podcast development podcast marketing productivity Dec 01, 2017

When is the best time to release a podcast?

Is it in the afternoon?

Is it in the morning?

Is it on a Wednesday?

There are a couple of things we need to consider when it comes down to creating a release schedule for your podcast.

THE BEST DAY AND TIME REALLY DEPEND ON THE TYPE OF PODCAST YOU CREATE

Let's say that you are creating a podcast that is based around football and your show requires you to recap all of the games that had happened on Sunday.  It might make more sense to release a podcast on a Monday morning to recap the previous day's events.

Or maybe you are releasing the podcast on a Monday morning or Monday afternoon. This is really going to depend on you. 

The same can be said for TV shows. There are tons of TV shows out there that have accompanying podcasts where people are giving their own take on popular TV shows.  

So, it would make sense to probably release a podcast the following day after the program has aired on TV.

WHEN TO RELEASE EVERGREEN PODCASTS

Your podcast may fall under the realm of marketing, storytelling or anything that doesn't have a shelf-life.

The best schedule for these types of podcasts are probably going to be weekly, ongoing.  Your goal is to create a day that is going to set the expectation of when you're going to be releasing content. This goes for just about anything that you do when it comes to creating content for the web.

Just as you see me posting a video every Thursday on my YouTube channel, you should be doing the same for your podcast.  Part of this has to do with technical algorithmic signals coming from your content channel, but it's mostly about creating a habit for new potential listeners to latch onto. 

If you can build a habit for them to recognize, then you create a loyal following in return.

 Give that some consideration as to when you're going to be dropping your podcast episodes.  Release your episodes on the days that are best for you.

CAN I TAKE A BREAK FROM RELEASING PODCAST EPISODES?

There's this industry term in the podcasting world called "podfading". In short, it's just another form of saying you're getting burned out with doing your podcast every week. And believe me it happens.

Look, I've been on the radio for 18 years, doing the same shift time for nearly 13 years. Have I gotten burned out?  Of course!  

What's great about where I work is that I'm encouraged to take time away to keep from burning out.  So, I'm going to say the same to you: if you need to take time away from your podcast, do it! 

Treat your time off from a podcast like you were taking vacation time from a job.  Inform your audience that you are taking a few weeks off, but make sure to stick to that schedule. Your audience will definitely expect you to get back to them in a few weeks, so respect your audience and your time off.

[PRO-TIP]

Before you take time off, you may find that you want to take a couple of weeks away from podcasting, but you don't want to have the content stop feed to iTunes.  In this case, it's best to front-load a few recordings and schedule them out with your hosting service.

Let's say that you want to take two weeks off, and are pre-recording episodes to continue to be fed into iTunes.  You will want to have at least one extra episode "in the can" so you can find yourself not rushing to drop an episode for the week you come back.  

As you will discover, "life" happens and it's always best to be prepared.

I hope these tips help you out.  Let me know your thoughts on when you should release a podcast? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments down below.