How often should you publish a podcast?

For most new business shows, publish weekly or fortnightly, on the same day every time, with two or three finished episodes in hand before the first one goes out. If you are torn between the two, pick fortnightly, because a schedule you keep beats a faster one you abandon.

Why do new podcasts stop publishing?

The word for it is podfade: a show launches with energy, publishes for a couple of months, and then goes quiet without ever announcing an end. The cause is the calendar far more often than the audience. At launch the cadence is set by ambition; by month three it is set by whatever else the host has on, and the gap between recording and release shrinks until there is none. Then one recording slips, there is nothing to release, and the first missed week becomes a habit.

A regular rhythm also keeps the files in order. In one show's archive we found audio labelled for one episode sitting in the previous episode's folder. It is a small slip, and it is easier to make when recording days wander and nobody is sure which episode is which.

Buzzsprout publishes the release frequency of the shows on its own platform: 33% publish every 3 to 7 days and 40% every 8 to 14 days, so nearly three quarters sit on a weekly or fortnightly rhythm. Only 7% publish within two days of the last episode.

Weekly, fortnightly, or something else?

How the cadences compare for a business show whose host has a job as well:

The shows we edit cluster where the table says they should. One finance show publishes weekly and has come through our edit for well over twenty weeks running. A B2B marketing interview show goes out every second Monday. A climate-investment show has settled at about one episode every four weeks. Two of the three landed on weekly or every two weeks, because that is what a working person can keep up, and the third sits in the monthly row.

Weekly wins on habit: listeners build a show into their week when it arrives at the same time each week, and four episodes a month gives you more clips and more chances to be found. Fortnightly wins on survival: an interview show has to book a guest for every episode, and doing that every two weeks is a very different life from doing it every seven days.

How do you build a schedule that survives?

Start with a buffer, and treat it as a reserve rather than a head start to spend. Three episodes banked means an ill host, a cancelled guest or a bad recording costs you nothing the audience can see.

A ramp that holds:

1. Weeks one to three: record, do not publish. Record on the same weekday each week and send the files straight to the edit. By week three you have three finished episodes and a recording habit.
2. Week four: launch fortnightly. Release episode one. Keep recording weekly. Publishing half as fast as you record, the buffer grows.
3. Review after six episodes. If the buffer is still at three or more and the host wants it, move to weekly. If it has thinned, stay fortnightly. Nobody notices the cadence you did not choose; everyone notices one you drop.
4. Hold one rule. If the buffer falls to one episode, slow the release, never skip. A show that drops to fortnightly on purpose keeps its audience; one that misses two weeks in a row is already fading.

Pick a weekday for release. The Podchaser study Buzzsprout cites found weekdays are more popular publishing days than weekends and no single weekday is better than another, so choose the day that suits your audience and keep it. For how cadence trades off against length, read how long should a podcast episode be: a shorter weekly episode often beats a longer fortnightly one for the same recording time.

What does your cadence mean for the edit?

Your editor's schedule should fit yours. Ours is weekly: we work on a weekly cycle and stay ahead of the client's release day, and an episode is usually back in under a week from the day the files arrive. A weekly show that records a week ahead of release always has an edited episode waiting, and a fortnightly show has a week spare for revisions, which run until you are happy with no round limits.

Billing follows the same rhythm. We bill every four-week cycle, which maps onto four weekly episodes or two fortnightly ones, and three or more episodes in a cycle takes 10% off the whole package. A full episode edit is £280 on the pricing page, so a weekly show gets the discount and a fortnightly one pays list price for two. There is no minimum term and no notice period, which matters for a new show: move from weekly to fortnightly after six episodes and the bill drops to two episodes at list price.

If you have not launched yet, decide cadence alongside format and gear in how to start a video podcast, write it down, and bank three episodes before anyone hears the first.

When your first episodes are recorded, here's what we do with a full episode and what it costs.