How to Format a Podcast

Podcasts may be a dime a dozen nowadays, but that doesn’t stop you from standing out. What matters isn’t so much what you talk about as how you structure it. Choosing the right format for your podcast not only influences how engaging it is to listen to, but also how difficult it is to produce, and your strategy for getting the guests that make people tune in.

But how exactly should you format a podcast, and what are your options? We’ve broken the whole thing down in our guide below: what the best podcast formats are; the debate between audio and video podcasts; and how to format your podcast to attract the most ears, and deliver the best results for your brand.

 

Podcast Formats: A Quick Overview

You may not have thought about how podcasts are formatted before. If you’ve listened to many, though (and we recommend you do, if you’re starting one!), you probably have an intuitive understanding of what a podcast format is. 

A podcast format is essentially how the podcast is structured. It’s often baked into the premise of a podcast, with listeners knowing when a podcast is more of a ‘limited series’, and when it’s providing ongoing coverage of a topic.

However, the length of a podcast’s run only scratches the surface of what a podcast format is and what it can be. For those building their podcast strategy, considerations such as:

• Access to guests
• Available production resources
• Whether personality or storytelling is the primary hook
• How frequently the podcast can realistically be published
• Whether the goal is audience growth or brand positioning

Will be highly influential in decision-making. Here are the most common types of podcast format, their strengths and weaknesses, and where they are best used:

 

The Interview Show

The interview show is probably the most popular and enduring kind of podcast format. Epitomised by the likes of The Diary of a CEO or The Joe Rogan Experience, it involves one or more people interviewing a new guest every episode. 

The guests may revolve around a theme, such as the industry or niche the podcast is focussed on, or have something particularly timely to say. They may even just be someone the hosts are interested in talking to, and who will make for a good conversation.

Interview shows are great for the listener because they offer variety and name recognition. If you aren’t interested in one guest, the next guest may draw you in instead. They’re also easy to build a structure around: if your aim is to inform and entertain your audience, this will steer your choice of guest and line of questioning.

The challenges of interview shows are both about logistics and personalities. An interview show is as much about the interviewer or interviewers as it is about the guests. Your interviewer needs to be engaging in their own right, able to steer a conversation, and ask the right questions at the right time. 

The logistical aspect comes down to procuring the right guests, and organising the podcast around them. A great guest can be enhanced by appearing at the right time to maximise their impact, so working with guests to schedule appearances and release the podcasts while they’re in the zeitgeist is as important as getting the guest to join you.

The Solo Podcast 

A solo podcast involves just one person talking to the audience. A common form of solo podcast is a Q&A structure, where the host responds to audience questions. But it could also involve telling a story, or simply discussing key talking points. Even more so than an interview show, this relies heavily on the abilities of the host.

The great benefit of a solo podcast is that it’s easy to get started: you simply need one (talented) person, a microphone, and a way to record and edit the show. It can also be highly reactive, as it isn’t reliant on getting multiple people around a microphone, meaning you can do quick episodes in response to current events.

The biggest challenge is the job of hosting it. A solo podcast not only needs to be consistently engaging, but also carefully structured. Without a co-host or other panellists to rely on, a solo host needs to speak consistently and clearly for long periods without losing their train of thought. This leads many solo podcasts to be partially or fully scripted, which can be hard to make sound natural.

The Panel Format

The panel format involves multiple recurring members discussing a topic, often with contributions from guests. Popularised by magazines and broadcasters such as Slate and NPR, panel podcasts are somewhat less common today, with the co-hosted podcast (see below) serving a similar role.

Panel format podcasts are ideal where you have several hosts or experts who can commit to being regular contributors to the show, while also intending to bring in regular guests. They can be a great way to discuss topics with guests who may not bring a substantial audience with them, but can add value to the podcast through their expertise.

The Narrative Podcast 

A narrative podcast or storytelling podcast is focussed on telling a specific story to the listener. These podcasts can involve fiction (using a cast of actors to tell a story) or non-fiction (typically with one host telling a story, though actors can also be employed to bring real characters to life). Popularised by true crime shows such as Serial and S-Town, narrative podcasts today can be about almost any topic where there is an interesting story to tell.

Storytelling podcasts have a reputation for being harder to produce, and not without reason. Unlike most other podcast formats, a narrative podcast needs to have a clear arc. Like a TV show, it needs to ebb and flow throughout the course of a season, telling a compelling story and introducing dramatic tension partway through.

Done well, a narrative podcast can be ‘appointment listening’ in a way that most podcasts aren’t, getting significant media coverage on the strength of its storytelling, and serving as an evergreen show for people to discover later on. However, the limited run of most narrative podcasts means you need to nail it first time, and hook people quickly with a compelling and well-introduced premise.

Co-Hosted Shows

Perhaps the most popular podcast format today is the co-hosted show. Epitomised by the Goalhanger podcasts such as The Rest is History or The Rest is Entertainment, co-hosted shows involve two hosts with a rich knowledge of their subject matter, discussing either a given topic, audience questions, or the latest news and events.

Co-hosted shows often live or die on the chemistry between the two hosts. While it’s important that both hosts bring a level of authority and knowledge to the table, they also need to be compelling to listen to. The best co-hosted shows feel like sitting in on a conversation between friends, where the way they impart the information is as important as the information itself.

Consistency is also vital. When the relationship between two hosts is the star of the show, it’s important that both people can commit to appearing regularly. This does make co-hosted shows more vulnerable to disruption than formats such as the panel show, where other hosts can more easily sub in when needed.

The Blended Format

Many podcasts now blend formats, rather than sticking to one. For example, a co-hosted show that also includes interviews, or a narrative series supplemented with bonus Q&As. This hybrid approach is becoming much more common.

 

Formatting Your Podcast: The Big Questions

Now you know the most popular podcast formats out there. But what is the best format for you or your brand? We’ve answered some common questions on how to format a podcast below…

What Is the Best Podcast Format for Beginners?

While a solo podcast is the easiest to get off the ground, we generally recommend either an interview show or co-hosted show format. While these rely on the availability of guests and the co-hosts respectively, they are also relatively limited in scope, requiring less equipment and forward planning than other formats.

A co-hosted show is a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader within a specific niche, bringing two authoritative and knowledgeable voices together to answer questions, or assess industry trends. An interview show meanwhile is a brilliant way to build an audience, finding guests through the leverage of your host, and growing your listener base through your guests’ networks.

Which Podcast Format Gets the Most Listeners?

Handily, the interview show and co-hosted show are also the two most popular podcast formats today! They account for many of the most popular podcasts in the UK and US, including The Joe Rogan Experience, The Rest Is… podcasts, Parenting Hell with Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe, and The Romesh Ranganathan Show.

However, this shouldn’t be the predominant influence on how to format your podcast. Ultimately, the availability of talent and the story you want to tell are more important than what podcast format is trending. If you have an amazing story that can only sustain an eight or 12 episode run, that will be much better suited to a narrative podcast than a co-hosted show that runs out of material.

What Podcast Format Works Best for Brands?

The most common format for brands might be the interview show. There are a few reasons for this: interview podcasts are easy to set up and edit; only require one host; and allow a prominent brand to source guests that can help to produce great content, and quickly build an audience within their niche.

Another reason why brands err towards interview shows is that they help to reinforce your positioning and messaging. Attracting knowledgeable, interesting, and trusted voices within your industry not only reflects well on your brand, but can also attract a highly relevant B2B audience, or even help with recruitment.

Whether this is the podcast format that works best for brands is open to debate. Ultimately, your choice of format should be determined by your strengths: if you have an already popular representative or voice, people may want to hear more of them in a solo podcast, co-hosted podcast or panel, rather than their guests.

Should My Podcast Be Audio or Video?

While audio is the traditional medium for podcasts (and part of the reason they’re so easy to get started), video podcasts are exploding in popularity. Netflix now offers video podcasts on its platform, and a growing number of audio podcasts are finding a new audience by uploading a video version to YouTube.

If you have the resources, it’s generally a good idea to record a video version of your podcast, as video and audio tend to attract different audiences. However, video editing is its own skill, and a video podcast can be a better way to expand an existing audience than build a new one. 

Audio-only remains the dominant format for commuting and multitasking – the contexts in which podcasts have always thrived.  As such, video is always something you can explore later, and isn’t something you should feel is a “must” if it’s currently beyond your means.

That said, the case for video is growing harder to ignore. YouTube increasingly functions as a discovery engine rather than simply a listening platform, while short-form social clips and reels have become one of the most reliable drivers of new audience growth. Video also opens the door to stronger sponsorship value and more natural brand integration opportunities, so if video isn’t part of your launch plan, it’s worth building it into your roadmap from the start.

 

What are the Common Podcast Format Mistakes to Avoid?

As with any kind of broadcast media, consistency is key. This means that anything which disrupts this consistency and prevents you from putting out episodes on a regular schedule is something to avoid. As important as learning how to format a podcast is, learning how to maximise the value of your content is just as crucial.

One issue interview podcasts often run into is simply not being able to secure guests on a regular basis. This can easily lead to gaps in your schedule, which can very quickly halt any momentum you had built up. Booking an initial run of guests in advance is important to help you build a profile that will make securing guests easier in future—as is having a reliable backup on hand in case someone pulls out at the last minute.

The structure of your show is also key. Consistency is as much about the experience of listening to the podcast as it is about the release schedule. A predictable structure—the same style of intro, recurring segments, and even ad breaks in the same places—provides a consistent experience and expectations for listeners, keeping them coming back on a regular basis.

Production is also an area that can easily become a time sink, and derail a budding podcast. While there are many flourishes that can improve a podcast, it isn’t worth unnecessarily delaying production or interrupting your release schedule to get them right. Things like jingles, background music, or achieving perfect studio conditions for your video podcast can be improved iteratively over time, but are less important than the quality and timeliness of the content.

 

Short-Form vs Long-Form: What the Data Tells Us About Listener Appetite

The conventional wisdom has always been that the ideal podcast length is between 20 and 40 minutes. This is the most common duration according to most statistics, and also the duration of popular shows like The Daily from The New York Times, or the BBC Newscast. But many of the most popular podcasts also far exceed this, with The Joe Rogan Experience often crossing the two-hour mark.

Indeed, 33% of all podcasts are actually longer than 40 mins, with 13% clocking in over an hour. Conversely, 36% are less than 20 minutes long. So what can we draw from this? Ultimately, podcasts are a hugely flexible medium. Many long-running podcasts actually utilise both, with longer ‘main’ episodes and shorter ‘bonus’ episodes, often taking the form of Q&As or other light-hearted content.

This plays into the growing sense that podcasts are not just an isolated medium, but the centre of multimedia ecosystems. YouTube is now the single most popular platform for consuming podcasts, while shortform content such as YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have exploded as a means of sharing short conversations and memorable moments from podcasts. Many podcasts even have their own fandoms, with communities on Discord or Reddit discussing the shows, and bringing like-minded listeners together.

While listener retention inevitably drops off in longer podcasts, what’s important is choosing a runtime that best serves your content and format. One of the great advantages of podcasts as opposed to linear broadcast media is that they can differ in length from episode to episode. 

A four hour interview could be edited down to an hour if it contains an hour of great content, but it could also be four hours if the whole interview is particularly riveting. What matters is whether it delivers value to the listener, and whether you can comfortably produce and edit it on your given schedule.

 

How Often Should I Release Podcast Episodes?

This question is slightly more straightforward. The vast majority of podcasts release either every 3 to 7 days or every 8 to 14 days, with either a weekly or fortnightly schedule being most common. 

However, this will depend on the nature of your podcast: a news podcast for instance is more likely to be published every day, and a current events podcast may need to issue emergency episodes when something momentous happens.

 

Once again, regularity is as important as maintaining a consistent schedule. While podcast users will come to expect a new episode at a particular time and date (giving them something to listen to at lunch, or on the drive home), you should ensure that you can reliably deliver episodes at whichever interval you choose.

Planning a Business Podcast? Start With the Right Format

Broadcast Revolution’s podcast creation and production services cover everything from format strategy to episode distribution. Get in touch to find out more.