Survey Your Audience: Ask listeners for their preferences on episode lengths through polls or feedback forms to better align with their expectations. Segment Episodes: Break longer episodes into shorter segments or mini-series to make content more digestible. Focus on Pacing: Keep content concise and engaging, avoiding unnecessary filler to maintain listener interest regardless of episode length. Offer Highlights or Recaps: Provide brief recaps or "best-of" clips for listeners who prefer shorter content. Time-Stamps for Key Topics: Include time-stamps in episode descriptions, allowing listeners to jump directly to sections they find most interesting.

Getting feedback like that from your audience is gold--especially if the data supports the feedback. Remember, your podcast is for your audience, not you. You may think an episode needs to be a certain length but if they’re telling you episodes are too long, they’re handing you the keys to growth. Embrace the feedback and adjust to meet their preferences. Shorter, tighter episodes might be exactly what your listeners need. Keeping your audience engaged means delivering what they want. It’s all about them!

If the people who care enough about your podcast to both listen to it and let you know how it could be better think it can be improved, well, you better listen. So, unless you absolutely have to keep the episodes a certain length, just try shorter episodes. I don't think breaking the episodes into segments, trying to be more interesting but not making the episode shorter is a good strategy. There's always a chance that your audience prefers to consume shorter podcast episodes. Their commute or workouts could be 40 minutes long, and maybe that is the only time they can listen to podcasts.