I analyzed ~3,700 top podcasts—here’s what I found!
Hi Friends, I recently analyzed around 3,700 top podcasts (RSS feeds of approximately the top 200 from each genre on Apple Podcasts). There was a lot of data to go through! This is the first part. Here, I looked at episode release schedules and average episode durations used by top podcasters. Please take a look and see if you find it useful! I'll be sharing more insights soon.
Podcast Episode Release Cycle
- Most podcasts follow a weekly release schedule (~52%).
- Daily podcasts make up ~30%, while fortnightly releases account for ~6%.
- Podcasters who release weekly or daily tend to be consistent – they stick to their schedule ~70% of the time over a long period.
How to read the table?
In the following table, in the True Crime genre:
- 72% of analyzed podcasts release episodes weekly, with an average consistency of 70%.
- 17% of podcasters release episodes daily, with a 51% consistency rate.
| Genre | Weekly Release(%) | Weekly Consistency(%) | Daily Release(%) | Daily Consistency(%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| True Crime | 72% | 70% | 17% | 51% |
| Society & Culture | 65% | 73% | 21% | 62% |
| Comedy | 64% | 76% | 23% | 74% |
| Leisure | 63% | 69% | 22% | 58% |
| Science | 60% | 68% | 20% | 63% |
| Kids & Family | 60% | 74% | 23% | 59% |
| TV & Film | 59% | 72% | 28% | 61% |
| Arts | 59% | 75% | 17% | 74% |
| Health & Fitness | 58% | 72% | 26% | 56% |
| Music | 58% | 71% | 27% | 59% |
| Technology | 56% | 68% | 24% | 62% |
| History | 53% | 68% | 17% | 55% |
| Education | 52% | 70% | 28% | 64% |
| Fiction | 47% | 64% | 27% | 66% |
| Religion & Spirituality | 46% | 74% | 40% | 75% |
| Business | 42% | 68% | 40% | 71% |
| Government | 41% | 58% | 27% | 61% |
| Sports | 22% | 66% | 69% | 80% |
| News | 17% | 71% | 76% | 82% |
Podcast Episode Duration
- The average episode duration across all podcasts is ~49 minutes.
- Weekly podcasts tend to be slightly longer (~52 min avg).
- Daily podcasts are shorter (~43 min avg).
How to read the table?
In the following table, in the Arts genre:
- The average episode duration is 49 minutes 10 seconds.
- Most episodes fall between 31 and 55 minutes.
- Weekly-released episodes average 50 minutes 11 seconds.
- Daily-released episodes average 49 minutes 05 seconds.
| Genre | Overall Avg Duration | Most Common Range | Weekly Avg Duration | Daily Avg Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arts | 0:49:10Min | 31-55Min | 0:50:11Min | 0:49:05Min |
| Business | 0:40:54Min | 21-45Min | 0:45:37Min | 0:34:56Min |
| Comedy | 1:11:10Min | 50-80Min | 1:12:46Min | 1:07:02Min |
| Education | 0:36:21Min | 15-40Min | 0:37:14Min | 0:29:23Min |
| Fiction | 0:38:00Min | 21-40Min | 0:40:51Min | 0:32:30Min |
| Government | 0:39:53Min | 26-45Min | 0:41:44Min | 0:37:03Min |
| Health & Fitness | 0:48:40Min | 31-60Min | 0:50:03Min | 0:46:36Min |
| History | 0:46:42Min | 26-55Min | 0:45:32Min | 0:40:47Min |
| Kids & Family | 0:30:26Min | 06-40Min | 0:29:35Min | 0:19:18Min |
| Leisure | 1:04:13Min | 46-70Min | 1:07:32Min | 0:51:49Min |
| Music | 1:00:14Min | 46-70Min | 1:05:38Min | 0:48:53Min |
| News | 0:44:36Min | 26-55Min | 0:49:32Min | 0:42:08Min |
| Religion & Spirituality | 0:38:58Min | 26-55Min | 0:44:48Min | 0:29:26Min |
| Science | 0:46:14Min | 21-65Min | 0:46:28Min | 0:42:18Min |
| Society & Culture | 0:51:42Min | 31-60Min | 0:51:56Min | 0:49:28Min |
| Sports | 1:00:19Min | 41-70Min | 1:15:09Min | 0:54:14Min |
| Technology | 0:56:44Min | 35-75Min | 1:01:24Min | 0:44:24Min |
| True Crime | 0:43:25Min | 26-45Min | 0:44:31Min | 0:37:45Min |
| TV & Film | 1:06:03Min | 41-75Min | 1:09:20Min | 0:58:14Min |
Just to be clear, this is my personal analysis based on publicly available data, and I could be wrong. Thanks for your time.