How Long Should Your Episode Opening Be? [episode 395]

What’s the very first thing your viewers hears once they play your newest episode? Are your offering worth in your opening, or simply maintaining your viewers from what they got here to listen to?

Though the phrases “intro”/”introduction” and “opening” are sometimes used interchangeably, I’ll be extra particular to name the “opening” the whole lot your viewers hears earlier than your episode’s distinctive content material. I’d take into account the “intro” to be a smaller piece of that. For instance, an intro may very well be for the podcast as an entire, or the introduction in your visitor, or the way you lead into your matter.

Reply: as brief as attainable

Sure, I am really main with the reply—similar to how it is best to lead with nice content material!

Folks come to your podcast to listen to the content material, not your introduction of the content material. And so they particularly do not come to your present to listen to you clarify the premise of your entire podcast.

It could appear impressively skilled to have a high-production opening with customized music; dramatic sound results; and knowledgeable voiceover explaining who you might be, who the podcast is for, and what the podcast guarantees. However I problem you to contemplate that your viewers shall be impressed not by the manufacturing high quality of your opening, however by the standard of your content material and the way rapidly and the way properly you fulfill your guarantees.

Have you ever ever searched the Web for a recipe? Looking DuckDuckGo for “cinnamon toast recipe,” I picked the present prime outcome: “The Greatest Cinnamon Toast Ever!”

This needs to be one of many easiest recipes on the Web! As a substitute, that prime webpage contained 14 paragraphs and a couple of subheadings earlier than attending to the precise recipe! (In case you are questioning, it is 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and so they suggest a pinch of salt. Although I personally desire 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon.)

Do not let your podcast be like these recipe webpages until your viewers is coming for the story and clarification since you’ve promised that to them out of your podcast description.

So particularly, how brief ought to your podcast opening be? I like to recommend maintaining it shorter than 10 seconds earlier than you get into at the very least the distinctive content material intro (however possibly your content material would not want a lot of an intro)!

What about audio branding?

I am positively a fan of audio branding! And the very best audio branding could be carried out in seconds!

The Audacity to Podcast‘s full opening was longer than a minute. However then I restructured it and now the music is simply about 6 seconds! And after I made that change, it really felt actually good to have a brief music clip that was nonetheless distinctive to my present, and is definitely from the identical music I’ve used for 15 years—however now a lot shorter so that you get the content material sooner!

What about welcoming your new viewers?

Podcast consumption is totally different from broadcast TV and radio, and it is even totally different from YouTube consumption.

On conventional broadcast media, you may tune in proper in the course of the content material, or you do not know what you are really tuned into in any respect. And folks often come and go along with little to no context concerning the content material.

And on YouTube, folks will bounce from video to video, usually falling down a suggestion rabbit gap that features different channels they’ve by no means seen earlier than however that provide attractively related content material.

However podcasting is totally different.

Folks do not normally come across or unintentionally begin enjoying a brand new podcast; they normally hear (or watch) from intentional motion (other than “secondhand podcast”).

Moreover, they normally have plenty of instantly out there context concerning the podcast and episode-specific content material:

• They in all probability noticed your podcast title, art work, and outline earlier than they adopted the podcast within the first place.
• They’ll normally see your episode title and art work whereas enjoying the episode.
• They in all probability discovered or had been really helpful your podcast for a particular cause.

Thus, I do not suppose it is necessary so that you can clarify the premise of your present or introduce your self (past your title) in each episode.

In case you actually need your new viewers to listen to you introduce the podcast and your self, then make a brief “trailer” episode particularly for that and mark it as a trailer [353]!

Take into account your most vital viewers: the one you have already got

As you’ll be able to see, there are different methods to make sure your new viewers is aware of what your podcast affords. However your most vital viewers is the folks already consuming your episodes! So optimize the expertise for them and I consider you will really make a extra snug expertise for the brand new folks coming to your podcast.

Think about this (and please inform me I am not the one one who feels this manner!). You are in a session (in individual or in an internet assembly), keen to listen to one thing from the presenter. You are there on time and the presenter has began. However then some folks be a part of late, so the presenter breaks their move, welcomes the brand new folks, after which rehashes what they only mentioned for the sake of the brand new folks.

Irritating, proper? Not solely did that break the move for everybody already there, it really even wasted the time for the individuals who joined late as a result of now they will miss what the presenter may have shared within the time it took to rehash for the late folks.

Simply do not assume even your current viewers is aware of the whole lot from years in the past in your podcast! That is a distinct sort of “podcasting sin”! So it is okay to rehash older content material inside a brand new context.

Nobody will hate you for not losing their time

Let me be blunt: plenty of podcast openings and intros are losing folks’s time. And that is precisely why a number of podcast apps supply a function to robotically skip a portion of a podcast’s opening.

In case you’re an indie podcaster simply beginning out, I hope this encourages you that you just do not have to spend so much of money and time producing a flowery opening! Be distinctive and audibly branded, but it surely would not must be a serious manufacturing!

Bonus tip: use a novel “chilly open”

The “chilly open” has turn out to be commonplace in all types of media, and I believe that is as a result of it really works so properly to hook folks into the content material! Take into account how most motion pictures and TV exhibits soar straight into the scene and do not show a title sequence and credit till later—typically not even till the top!

I will make a separate episode about what makes a very good chilly open. However as a part of your episode opening, I nonetheless recommend that you just hold your chilly open as brief as attainable!

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I wish to meet up with some help and suggestions that has are available these days.

• Mike Dell despatched 1,701§ (a Star Trek supercomment) on “15 Regrets from 15 Years of Skilled Podcasting [episode 394]” and mentioned, “I’ve plenty of these points. Hiatus is my #1 as properly. I’m the king of inconsistency. Completely happy fifteenth!”
• Additionally in response to the identical episode, Stevie Taylor from The Gig Life Podcast mentioned, “I simply listened to episode 384 … and liked it! I’ve taken loads away from this. I really like your podcast and am blissful to see it again in my feed these previous few weeks. Sustain the nice work. Thanks for uplifting!”
• Bryan Entzminger from Prime Tier Audio streamed Satoshis with a contemporary Podcasting 2.0 podcast app.
• Randy Black despatched a supercomment on a previous episode with 2,222§ (I name it a “March of the Rubber Duckies” increase): “One other superior episode Daniel. Sustain the nice work. Go Podcasting! Increase, increase, increase!”
• Dreb Scott despatched 55,555§ saying, “Thanks very a lot in your recommendations on video feeds and enclosures over on PodcastIndex.social.”

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