1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,680 What's the best time of day to publish your podcast episodes? 2 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:15,840 You probably already know the answer and here are some more things to think about as well. 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,480 Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:19,760 I'm Daniel J. Lewis. 5 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,880 Does it matter what time of day you publish your podcast episodes? 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:25,680 Yes, it does. 7 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,640 In short, publish either in the morning or as soon as possible. 8 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,760 Of course, I've got more information about that for you to consider. 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,600 Now, I'm talking specifically about the time of day. 10 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,920 If you're wondering about what day of the week to publish your episodes, then listen 11 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,720 to my previous episode where that's all I talked about is specifically the day. 12 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:52,080 This episode focuses on what time of day for whatever day that is that you chose. 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:56,200 So get that previous episode inside your podcast app or from the link in the show notes for 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:02,680 this episode a tap or swipe away or at theaudacitytopodcast.com/besttime. 15 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,840 So number one, and you probably knew this was coming, consistency. 16 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:12,040 Like with your publishing day of the week, consistency is most important. 17 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:19,520 Try to publish at the exact same minute of the same hour on every publishing day, whatever 18 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:21,920 day that is that you choose for your podcast. 19 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,000 This helps some legacy systems, including Apple Podcasts, to learn your publishing schedule 20 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,500 so they know when to expect new episodes and can catch those new episodes more quickly 21 00:01:31,500 --> 00:01:32,740 when you publish. 22 00:01:32,740 --> 00:01:38,280 But some not so smart legacy systems will just continue checking your RSS feed regardless 23 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:39,960 of when you publish your episode. 24 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:45,820 Now that whole legacy thing, that can really be replaced so much more effectively with 25 00:01:45,820 --> 00:01:49,140 podpeeing from the Podcasting 2.0 standard. 26 00:01:49,140 --> 00:01:53,640 The Podpeen protocol is when you publish an episode, it sends out a ping to a service 27 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:58,360 that all of these other apps and services subscribe to so that when you publish a new 28 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:04,840 episode it pops up in those Podcasting 2.0 compliant apps and services almost immediately. 29 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,620 It's amazing how fast it is. 30 00:02:07,620 --> 00:02:12,320 So if your publishing tool and your favorite podcast apps don't already support Podpeen 31 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:19,920 and Podcasting 2.0, then please nicely ask them to and insist that they support Podbean 32 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:22,040 and the Podcasting 2.0 standard. 33 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:27,320 Now all the good podcast publishing tools will let you schedule when your episode publishes 34 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,280 so you don't have to worry about staying up late or getting up super early in order 35 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,140 to hit it right on the dot. 36 00:02:34,140 --> 00:02:38,320 But if your publishing tool does not allow scheduling your episodes to publish in the 37 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,960 future at a specific time, then get a better podcast publishing tool. 38 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:48,080 And when you know what the published URL will be, as most tools will actually show you even 39 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:53,840 before you publish the episode, you can also then schedule more of your initial promotion. 40 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:58,800 Like your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, that is if you have an Instagram business 41 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:03,800 account that lets you use scheduling tools and schedule a post to publish automatically. 42 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:08,440 You can also work with your email newsletter and other automations so that when you publish 43 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,400 your episode at that consistent time, then all of these other things trigger at a consistent 44 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:14,760 time as well. 45 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,480 Just ensure that any caching system you use on your website will automatically update 46 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,800 when you publish the new episode. 47 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:26,440 Most on-site caching systems, like if you use WordPress, your WordPress caching plugin, 48 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:31,040 or if you're using your podcast hosting provider's website that they give you for your podcast, 49 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,160 their own caching system will do this too. 50 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:39,100 of these systems will automatically update whenever you publish a new episode. But watch 51 00:03:39,100 --> 00:03:43,700 out for any kind of off-site caching system or something that's a bit more advanced that 52 00:03:43,700 --> 00:03:49,140 doesn't integrate directly with the publishing button. Like for example Cloudflare. But many 53 00:03:49,140 --> 00:03:55,500 of these off-site or third-party caching systems do have certain integrations so that their 54 00:03:55,500 --> 00:04:01,100 caches are refreshed quickly when you hit publish. Make sure that if you use any of 55 00:04:01,100 --> 00:04:06,860 these systems reach out to their providers or look in the documentations for what you 56 00:04:06,860 --> 00:04:10,740 need to do to make sure that your cache is updated immediately. 57 00:04:10,740 --> 00:04:15,100 So consistency is the most important thing here. 58 00:04:15,100 --> 00:04:17,660 The same minute of the same hour. 59 00:04:17,660 --> 00:04:18,660 And don't try and wean it. 60 00:04:18,660 --> 00:04:21,900 I see some people say, "Oh yeah, we're ultra consistent." 61 00:04:21,900 --> 00:04:27,540 I ask them, "Well, do you actually publish at the same minute of the same hour on your 62 00:04:27,540 --> 00:04:28,540 publishing days?" 63 00:04:28,540 --> 00:04:30,040 And they say, "Well, no. 64 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:35,880 publish around 10 o'clock or whatever the time is. No, I mean you need to be absolutely consistent. 65 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:43,400 The exact same minute of the same hour on your publishing days, whatever days those are. With 66 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:52,280 that in mind, what is the best time to publish your episodes? So number two, usually mornings 67 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:58,840 of your majority audience. Look at your podcast stats to see how your show performs in different 68 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:04,280 countries and regions. And also think about who is your target audience. The United States will 69 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:10,360 probably be the number one consumption country for most podcasts out there. But if your target 70 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:17,240 audience is in a different country, maybe you have a podcast about British affairs, British politics, 71 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,640 British sports, anything like that, then the American audience in the United States is not 72 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,640 your target audience. Even if it's your biggest audience, they're probably not your target 73 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,520 audience. So think about either your target audience or the majority of your audience, 74 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,600 and you can get some of that from your stats and also just from knowing your audience, 75 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:40,040 who you're trying to create your podcast for. I suggest then usually publishing in the early 76 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:46,520 mornings for the time zones of most of that audience. For example, The Audacity to Podcast 77 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:52,360 really is designed for an international appeal and I even try to make it even more international by 78 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,920 including other measurements. Like I don't always stick with the imperial system. I try to include 79 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:03,080 the metric system as well because the Audacity podcast is for podcasters in any country. As 80 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,800 long as they speak English and can understand what I'm saying, it's for them. It's for you. 81 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:15,160 But the majority of my audience is in the United States. So I publish the Audacity podcast at 6 82 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:21,160 a.m. Eastern Time, which is 3 a.m. Pacific Time, making the episode available for most of my 83 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:26,840 American audiences' morning routines. Now remember time zone differences, especially 84 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:33,280 if you're behind time zones where most of your audience is. For example, 6am in California 85 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:37,720 might seem like a good publishing time if you're in California, but keep in mind that's 86 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:44,020 9am in Florida. So publishing at 6am Pacific Time might be too late for the audience in 87 00:06:44,020 --> 00:06:48,900 Eastern Time to catch the episodes before they start their daily routines. This is why 88 00:06:48,900 --> 00:06:53,840 you need to see where is the majority of your audience or your target audience, what is 89 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:59,780 their time zone, and how can you make sure that your episode publishes in the early mornings 90 00:06:59,780 --> 00:07:04,460 for wherever that audience is. That's number two. 91 00:07:04,460 --> 00:07:11,540 Number three, as soon as possible for urgent content. If you have truly urgent content, 92 00:07:11,540 --> 00:07:15,180 I'm not talking about just content you're really excited about getting out there or 93 00:07:15,180 --> 00:07:20,060 or that you want to be timely because a new movie is coming out. But I mean truly urgent 94 00:07:20,060 --> 00:07:25,500 content. Then don't worry about being totally consistent. If you have breaking news and 95 00:07:25,500 --> 00:07:29,120 you just recorded an episode and this is brand new breaking news, like there was a keynote 96 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:34,580 from your top company or you're publishing live from the Consumer Electronics Show or 97 00:07:34,580 --> 00:07:38,500 something like that, late breaking news and you're sharing it with your podcast, don't 98 00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:42,960 worry about waiting until your publishing day later in the week in the publishing time. 99 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,060 Let's publish the episode, and as quickly as you can. 100 00:07:46,060 --> 00:07:51,300 For example, I've hosted several TV after show podcasts where we discussed a TV show 101 00:07:51,300 --> 00:07:54,380 episode in each episode of our podcast. 102 00:07:54,380 --> 00:08:01,460 For our most popular one, we did two episodes every week of one episode of the TV show. 103 00:08:01,460 --> 00:08:06,340 We would do a short initial reactions episode right after the TV show aired, and then a 104 00:08:06,340 --> 00:08:10,660 longer full discussion episode midway between TV airings. 105 00:08:10,660 --> 00:08:15,380 By the way, building on the previous episode's topic of what day of the week, did it matter 106 00:08:15,380 --> 00:08:17,020 what actual day we published? 107 00:08:17,020 --> 00:08:18,020 No. 108 00:08:18,020 --> 00:08:23,100 Now we published on Thursday mornings, but that was midway between when the TV show aired, 109 00:08:23,100 --> 00:08:25,100 which was on Sunday evenings. 110 00:08:25,100 --> 00:08:29,780 So our full discussion gave the audience enough time to watch the TV show episode and send 111 00:08:29,780 --> 00:08:34,780 us their feedback, and then enough time for them to listen to our episode before the next 112 00:08:34,780 --> 00:08:36,880 episode of the TV show aired. 113 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:38,940 But that was the full discussion episodes. 114 00:08:38,940 --> 00:08:43,600 Let's look back at the initial reactions episode. And a side note here, if you do a 115 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:50,080 TV aftershow podcast, try to live in Eastern Time or Central Time if you can because it 116 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:56,080 seems almost all of the shows are at such and such time, Eastern/1 hour before Central, 117 00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:01,620 which is actually the simultaneous time. So if you're in Eastern or Central Time and 118 00:09:01,620 --> 00:09:07,040 watching that show, you're watching at the same time as a much larger portion of the 119 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:12,160 audience than if you're in mountain or pacific time or if you're in some other country in a 120 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:17,520 different time zone altogether. That's also great if you're hosting a live event after the tv show 121 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:22,560 because you're able to reach the largest number of your audience. But yeah that does also mean that 122 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:27,600 anyone in the west coast can't make it if you're trying to record right after the episode because 123 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,840 they haven't even seen the episode yet. However, that's talking about live streaming. We're talking 124 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,600 talking about podcasting. And in podcasting, you're recording it and they can listen to 125 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:41,940 it when it's available later. So we recorded those initial reactions episode 15 minutes 126 00:09:41,940 --> 00:09:46,720 after the TV show episode aired. And we did that in Eastern Time, which also worked great 127 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,720 for the Central Time audience who was watching at the same time. And we would live stream 128 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,820 it as well. And we told our audience that come to the chat room 15 minutes after the 129 00:09:54,820 --> 00:10:00,140 show if you're watching in Eastern or Central Time, then we would rush to publish that initial 130 00:10:00,140 --> 00:10:06,740 reactions episode as soon as possible on the same night. And we almost always had it up 131 00:10:06,740 --> 00:10:12,020 before those in Pacific Time even started watching the TV episode. So our podcast episode 132 00:10:12,020 --> 00:10:16,720 was already there waiting for them. As soon as they finished watching the episode, sometimes 133 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,820 even before the people in Mountain Time finished watching the episode, our episode would be 134 00:10:20,820 --> 00:10:24,980 there. So when they finished watching the episode, they could jump straight into our 135 00:10:24,980 --> 00:10:29,860 podcast episode with some initial reactions and initial thoughts about what they just 136 00:10:29,860 --> 00:10:35,380 saw on TV. Now although some legacy apps, that is those that aren't using the Podpean 137 00:10:35,380 --> 00:10:43,820 protocol from Podcasting 2.0, might not always catch these ASAP episodes quickly, your audience 138 00:10:43,820 --> 00:10:49,620 might come to expect them and might be eagerly manually refreshing their apps or even going 139 00:10:49,620 --> 00:10:55,900 to your website in order to catch your episodes right away. And this is a good aside for why 140 00:10:55,900 --> 00:10:59,660 you need to make sure that you have a website that your audience knows about. So if they're 141 00:10:59,660 --> 00:11:04,040 looking for your episode to listen to it as soon as possible, they'll know where to go 142 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:08,720 to get it instead of having to wait around for their podcast app, which might be slow 143 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:14,980 if it's not using PodPing. So as soon as possible for this truly urgent content, don't worry 144 00:11:14,980 --> 00:11:19,380 about the consistency with that. Just get it out there as quickly as you can. Your other 145 00:11:19,380 --> 00:11:24,980 content like with our mid-week episode, we would publish that at a more consistent time 146 00:11:24,980 --> 00:11:29,780 later in the week on those Thursday mornings, but those initial reactions we wanted out 147 00:11:29,780 --> 00:11:34,180 there as quickly as possible so that our audience could consume it as quickly as possible. 148 00:11:34,180 --> 00:11:39,780 And they came to rely on that aspect of the consistency, that it was there as quickly 149 00:11:39,780 --> 00:11:40,780 as possible. 150 00:11:40,780 --> 00:11:45,820 And they would be manually refreshing their feeds or refreshing our website looking for 151 00:11:45,820 --> 00:11:47,540 that newest episode. 152 00:11:47,540 --> 00:11:52,820 And number four, you might be wondering, what about after work content? 153 00:11:52,820 --> 00:11:57,780 Because we talk about this in the perspective of get it ready before the morning routines. 154 00:11:57,780 --> 00:12:01,800 That's before a commute, before getting ready for work, before work, that kind of stuff, 155 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:05,740 for all of the considerations that come along with that and when people might listen. But 156 00:12:05,740 --> 00:12:10,800 you might be thinking, well my content is designed for after work. It's designed for 157 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,500 what people might be doing or enjoying in the evenings, not what they're doing during 158 00:12:14,500 --> 00:12:21,440 the day. You might be tempted to postpone that non-business oriented content for the 159 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:27,240 afternoon or evening, but I still recommend mornings even in these situations because 160 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:34,940 business people often like to consume non-business content while commuting to or from business. 161 00:12:34,940 --> 00:12:39,500 In other words, and this applies to the whole concept of timing, both the time of day and 162 00:12:39,500 --> 00:12:44,880 the day of the week, don't worry about trying to perfectly time when your episode publishes 163 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:48,480 so that it's right there at just the moment that your audience is going to listen. Don't 164 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:50,600 Don't worry about that kind of perfect timing. 165 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,960 Perfectly time your consistency, but don't try to perfectly time when it lands in your 166 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,240 audience's devices. 167 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,640 Simply stick to mornings for consistency, or as soon as possible for more time-sensitive 168 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:08,480 content and your audience will listen when they want, as long as your episode is available 169 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:10,080 by that time. 170 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:14,980 And when you're consistent, they will learn when to expect your episode to be available 171 00:13:14,980 --> 00:13:18,280 and they'll even build it into their routines. 172 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,580 Some people will say, "You are part of my Monday morning routine. 173 00:13:21,580 --> 00:13:22,580 Every Monday morning. 174 00:13:22,580 --> 00:13:26,400 If your podcast episode isn't there by Monday morning, then I just don't have anything to 175 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,880 listen to on Monday mornings when I commute to work." 176 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,700 Or it might be Thursday mornings or anything like that. 177 00:13:32,700 --> 00:13:34,800 Consistency is most important. 178 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,200 And then stick with the mornings if you can. 179 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:39,880 Publish as soon as possible for the truly urgent content. 180 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:44,640 But don't worry about trying to perfectly time it for your audience. 181 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:45,800 Just be consistent. 182 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:47,480 That's the most important thing. 183 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:52,440 consistency with urgency. Even that is a kind of consistency. 184 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:56,000 If this episode has helped you and you think it might be beneficial to other podcasters 185 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:03,040 as well or you want to review the notes then please go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/besttime 186 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,640 or it's a simple tap or swipe away to share or read the notes. 187 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:11,640 Please make sure you check out mypodcastreviews.com for ways to engage and grow your audience 188 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:16,800 through the power of podcast reviews and you get those nice shareable pages like lovethepodcast.com 189 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:21,240 for getting ratings and reviews easily from your audience and follow thepodcast.com to 190 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:26,200 help you grow your audience and display smart buttons that show only the options compatible 191 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,320 with your audience's or potential audience's devices. 192 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:34,800 That's over at mypodcastreviews.com with a really cool version 2 coming soon. 193 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,760 Now that I've given you some of the guts and taught you some of the tools, it's time 194 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:46,020 (no pun intended there) for you to start and grow your own podcast for passion and profit. 195 00:14:46,020 --> 00:14:49,220 I'm Daniel J. Lewis from the audacity2podcast.com. 196 00:14:49,220 --> 00:14:50,520 Thanks for listening. 197 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,880 [MUSIC PLAYING]