Articles
Essays and analysis on podcast craft, hosts, and the audio business.
The 90-Minute Problem: Why the Biggest Podcasts Keep Getting Longer
Flagship shows have crept from a tidy 35 minutes to two hours and beyond. We chart the drift across a decade of feeds, ask what listeners actually finish, and name which shows earn the runway.
By Sarah Voss
The Anatomy of a Cold Open: Eight Podcasts, Eight Ways to Hook a Listener
A stopwatch, a Saturday, and the first sixty seconds of eight podcasts — from The Daily to The Rest Is History. What the data revealed about music, hooks, run‑time and which production choices still earn the listener's next minute.
By Sarah Voss
Silence Is the Best Question: How Five Master Interviewers Wield the Pause
Most podcast advice treats silence as a problem to be solved. The opposite is true. We mapped how five of the format's most distinctive hosts — Terry Gross, Marc Maron, Krista Tippett, Brian Reed and Ezra Klein — turn the pause into their sharpest tool.
By Sarah Voss