One of the first essential choices you must make while developing a podcast is the format. Any podcast format has benefits and drawbacks, regardless of whether yours is a one-person show, includes frequent guest interviews, or recounts musical history.
Knowing how other shows are structured is helpful before deciding on one of your own. There are valid reasons why podcasters continue to use the following well-liked podcast formats.
Consider which of the following might work best for your show as you read through the list.
Interview Style Podcasts
The interview podcast style is undoubtedly one of the first to come to mind when you think of a podcast. The most popular podcast format, interviews, features a constant host or hosts speaking with a different guest each week.
For instance, if you host a music podcast, your guests will frequently be involved in the music, such as artists, music producers, fans, among others.
Benefits
Almost no editing will be required as the dialogue progresses. You will have things to discuss because each guest will have a unique take on a subject related to your specialty or genre.
Challenges
It can be challenging to locate people to interview and set up remote recordings. In a way, you depend on your guests’ abilities to amuse and inform. They’ll ruin your episode if they’re tough, unintelligible, or monotonous.
The solo podcast
This type of podcast is quite typical. People who want to share a particular kind of expertise use it. There isn’t much preparation or fanfare. Just speak into the microphone.
Due to its simplicity, this format is often chosen by aspiring podcasters. A microphone and some free editing tools are all you need to get started.
Benefits
The show’s success is solely the responsibility of the host, who has complete creative freedom. Your audience develops a close relationship with you.
Challenges
It could get boring for the audience to hear one speaker throughout the format. It is exhausting to speak for 30 to 45 minutes.
Multi-Host Podcast Format
Another popular podcast format. It comprises two people or more who typically get along well and have a simple talk. However, unlike an interview podcast format, these two or more are also the hosts.
In many instances, each host will contribute in a particular way to the conversation. One can provide commentary or comedic relief, while the other reports the news clip. One can provide knowledge while the other shares anecdotes from their own experiences.
Benefits
Planning takes less time when there is less organization. Each host contributes their unique viewpoint and ideas to create well-rounded programs.
Challenges
Editing audio files from several persons can be more complicated than editing one single file. Therefore, choosing the correct podcast technology and software to ensure a high-quality recording can be pricey.
You may need to pick your co-host carefully because hosts need solid conversational compatibility.
Making sure that each co-host has equal time to talk might be challenging.
The Educational format podcasts
Educational podcasts can resemble interviews or conversational podcasts, but they are more focused on imparting knowledge about a particular subject, such as expanding your business or honing your artistic abilities.
Since these podcasts can contain a lot of information, show notes are crucial for learning consolidation and serve as links to additional resources.
To learn more about educational podcasts, here is a list of podcasts for teachers where you will find inspiration and valuable teaching tips that will guide fellow teachers and students who are looking for informative podcasts.
Benefits
The educational podcast helps you engage your audience on several levels. Adding supplemental content like PDF downloads, films, or even entire courses is simple. Hosting educational podcasts might assist you in becoming an expert in a particular subject.
Challenges
Without supporting images, it might be challenging to teach some subjects. Although you can point listeners to your website for show notes, your lesson should be simple enough to understand from just the audio.
The non-fictional or fictional storytelling podcast format
The host of this podcast chooses a real-world incident or a fictional story to recount in an entertaining storytelling style. It might be a political incident, a true-crime drama, or another significant occurrence.
The host frequently adopts an editorial attitude when investigating and presenting the event. This format could be episodic or have several seasons that cover various events.
Benefits
Because they must know what happens next, audiences are often “sticky,” especially if you expertly tie your episodes together. There is little competition from other podcasts because this is the least popular podcast format.
Challenges
Instead of podcasts, you’ll be up against other, more widely-used drama sources like TV, film, and radio; There is a lot of preparation, content creation, and production.
The repurposed content podcast format
Repurposing content entails altering previously published material to increase its usefulness. You may change it to a different media, add to it, or divide it. Some bloggers convert music with information into a podcast to provide listeners with a unique audio experience.
Benefits
This material is simple to develop because you already have it. A little editing is required to format it like a podcast. You don’t need a large budget because you don’t have to create the material.
Challenges
It might feel wrong because the material wasn’t initially created as a podcast. There are alternative ways for people to access the same content.
Bottomline
As you may expect, the podcast format you choose significantly influences your show. It will serve as a roadmap for producing material, selecting guests, and coordinating with your crew to record and post episodes.
Although you are not required to choose one of the podcast formats discussed above, they are well-liked since they are effective. The best option for your show is up to you; we can’t force you on that.
However, no matter where you are or which format you select, we can assist you in organising and producing a podcast of studio quality. Visit our series section, where you can get fresh concepts and fascinating information about the music industry.
