Optimal Airdate for Podcasts: Timing Matters Most

One of the essential aspects of podcasting is knowing when to release a new podcast. As we all know, many podcasters are doing all it takes to get their podcast to the right audience, but the truth is you don’t just publish a podcast any day. Although this might sound weird to newbies, professionals should know this.

You need to have a specific day(s) with time to release your podcast and stick to it. Doing so will allow you to build trust and loyalty amongst listeners.

With that said, knowing the best day to release a podcast is crucial for any podcaster, and in this article, we’ll enlighten you on all you need to know about that. So, just stick with us to find out more.

Part 1: Does Podcast Publishing Schedule Matter?

Having a podcast publishing schedule might sound negligible, but it is very essential for every podcaster, especially newbies. Listeners will stick to your podcast if they find it interesting, but to make them loyal, you need to build trust by publishing podcasts regularly on specific days and times every week. In addition, doing this will make your podcast more relevant in the space.

Also, keep in mind that choosing a suitable publishing schedule for your podcast depends on the niche you focus on and your target audience. So, when making such a decision, it’s crucial to opt for the days you can stay consistent with.

Part 2: What Is the Best Day To Release a Podcast? (The Megaphone Report)

Truth be told, no specific day is considered the best to release a podcast. However, Megaphone’s report on the daily podcast publishes report shows that podcasters tend to publish their podcast more on weekdays (Monday - Friday) between 2 AM, 5 AM, and 11 PM. The chart below explains the stat report better.

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As you can see from the chart above, the best day to publish a podcast is on weekdays. But check the following chart to see the median number of total downloads for every podcast episode posted per hour during the weekdays.

The chart on the left is the number of episodes published per hour from Monday to Friday, while the chart on the left displays the median total downloads of episodes the podcast episodes get over time.

Overall, it shows that podcast episodes published in the early hours of a new day tend to do better until 5 AM when their performance starts to drop. However, episodes published just before noon does best in the afternoon.

Takeaways for the best day to release a podcast

Here is our take on the podcast publish statistics analyzed by Megaphone in the charts above.

1. Weekdays are much more popular than weekends

From the podcast publish days’ statistics in the chart above, it’s obvious most podcasters publish on weekdays compared to weekends. Yes, over 40,000 podcast episodes are published during weekdays while on weekends, it’s within 4,000 to 5,000 episodes. The publishing time usually falls between 2 AM to 5 AM.

However, in our opinion, we don’t recommend publishing a new podcast at midnight, instead do it by 5 AM. This is will prevent the risk of your podcast getting buried under other podcasters’ shows on the app you are using, and enhance the chances of your podcast being on the first page, thus making it easily seen by your audience.

2. When is the most popular publishing day?

Based on the chart above, Wednesday is when the most podcast episodes are published. Over 9000 podcast episodes are published on this day, and the hour with the highest number of publishing is 2 AM.

But does this mean you should publish your podcast at exactly 2 AM on Wednesday? No! Instead, consider when your audience is most likely to listen. Will they prefer to tune in on their way to work, during work, on their way home, while doing house chores at home, or at night? You need to have a breakdown of this data, so you can choose the best time to publish your podcast.

3. When is the worst?

The worst day to publish a podcast is on Sunday, and as mentioned earlier, if you’re publishing during weekdays, do not publish at midnight. But note that the niche of your podcast matters. If Saturday and Sunday are when your audience tends to listen to your podcasts, then don’t hesitate to publish new episodes on weekends.

The hour with the most downloads per average episode is 5 AM Tuesday, followed by 5 AM Friday and 5 AM Thursday. Still, as mentioned earlier the time when your audience is most like to listen to the podcast matters.

Part 3: Warning Downfall: Don’t Post at the Time Others Do

The charts above were published by Megaphone based on the podcast episodes published on their platform. However, if you intend to choose the days to publish a podcast based on that, then it’s sad to say you’re about to make a big mistake.

The truth is it takes time and consistency to find the best days to publish podcasts. Even successful podcasters you see today never had the best days have the best days to publish content when they started. So, before you rush to start posting your podcast based on the chart or how other podcasters upload content, here are things you should know;

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1. Different podcast platforms have different algorithms

If you conduct an analysis of how podcast platforms work, you’ll discover all podcast platforms don’t have the same algorithm. For example, the way the Apple Podcast app works can be the same as that of Spotify, Player FM, Stitcher, and many others.

During our review of different podcast apps, we discovered Apple Podcast app algorithm tends to favor newer episodes, except if you have a show you haven’t listened to in a while. There are also podcast apps with a similar algorithm, but the best time and day to publish podcasts varies.

2. What works for other podcasters might not work for You

Just as the saying goes, “One man’s food could be another man’s poison”. Many regular podcasters usually upload content today because other podcasters have done the same. But unfortunately, it’s not a good move to just do things because others are doing it in the podcasting space. So, it’s advisable not to post at the same time others do.

Tips & Takeaways to find the best day for your podcast show

We absolutely can’t help you choose the best day to release a podcast. However, the following tips could help you decide what day and time will suit your podcast show.

a. Avoid times when your audience will hardly listen to your podcast

Most people look for podcasts when they are looking for information conversationally. So, you must do findings on knowing when your audience will want to listen to your podcast, though research shows that more people listen to podcasts on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday between 2 AM and 5 AM. But 5 AM is the best time to gather more downloads.

b. Try to tie it to something more predictable

Sometimes, you just need to think out of the box when choosing the best day for your podcast. For example, we know weekdays are for going to work, and more people tend to download podcasts by 5 AM on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. So, if your podcast is about “Things you should do at work to make your day less stressful”, there’s a high chance of getting more downloads, as it’ll attract many workers facing a similar problem daily.

Part 4: How To Regularly Produce Podcasts for Posting?

After making up your mind on the best day to release a podcast, your next move should be to start producing podcasts for posting. But the question is, “How do you record and edit a podcast?’ Well, this is where Filmora comes into the game.

Filmora is a professional video editing software that boasts excellent video and audio editing functionalities. In addition, it allows users to record and edit their podcasts easily using advanced features, including Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, audio ducking, and many more.

Key Features

• Supports many shortcut key commands to help tech-savvy and non-tec-savvy individuals to create and edit podcasts quickly.
• Users can utilize over 1000 video effects, including transition, filter, titles, and many others, to spice up high-quality podcast videos.
• Create eye-catchy podcast videos by adding adorable animations using an advanced keyframing tool.
• Remove background noise, fade in, fade out, and do lots more audio editing without hassles.
• Support speech-to-text that allows smooth conversion of voiceover to text.

To record and edit podcasts using Filmora , you just have to do the following:

Step1 Download and Install Filmora software on your computer.

Step2 Launch the Filmora app and click Create A New Project.

Step3 Click the Import button and upload an image, or you can use a free Stock Video available on Filmora by clicking Stock Media from the top bar and selecting a preferred stock video effect. Then, drag-n-drop it to the timeline.

Step4 Navigate to the Record icon under the preview box and click on it. Then, in the pop-up that appears, apply settings and click the Round Red icon to start recording the podcast.

Step5 Once you’ve completed the podcast recording, click the OK button.

Step6 To edit the recorded podcast, right-click on the recorded audio clip from the timeline and select Edit Properties from the drop-down list. After that, use the relevant buttons to adjust the podcast’s Fade in, Fade out, and pitch. Also, you can tick the checkbox next to Ducking to enable audio ducking and lower background noise.

Step7 You can also convert Voiceover to text by right-clicking on the audio clip. Then select Speech-to-text from the pop-up list. Next, select the Language you want the audio to be transcribed into in the pop-up and click OK to proceed.

Step8 Play the clip to confirm the quality once you’re done with the settings. Afterward, click Export from the top bar and select the location where you want the file to be stored in File Path. Click Export to Finish.

Additionally, Filmora supports direct sharing of the podcast to Tiktok, YouTube, or Vimeo.

Final Words

At this point, you should already have a concise knowledge of the best day to release a podcast. Although the Megaphone’s stat shows that the best day to publish a podcast is during weekdays, you must remember the warnings we stated in the article and use the tips to choose the best day to publish your podcast.

Also, don’t forget consistency matters when you begin podcasting. So, for that reason, we recommend you acquire efficient software like Filmora to create and edit podcasts. The tool has the right set of features to help make your podcast stand out in the space.

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