The State of Podcasting 2026

How long are sports podcasts?

The typical top-charting sports podcast runs 57 minutes an episode: that is the median of 85 shows' own medians, from 21,587 episodes released in the 12 months to 2 October 2026. Longer than the all-chart figure of 50 minutes, it ranks 3rd longest of 11 categories. Most episodes (50%) run 30 to 60 minutes.

By the Slice research teamUpdated How we did it

Get this page’s dataThe State of Podcasting 2026
  • 57 mintypical show’s median episode
  • 34%of episodes run over an hour
  • 14.2episodes a month, median show
  • 3rd of 11categories, longest first

How long is the typical sports episode?

Across all 21,587 sports episodes, the median is 49.7 minutes and the middle half run 40 to 67 minutes. The longest tenth go past 105 minutes.

Show
90th percentile104.575th percentile67.2Median of show medians56.9Median episode49.725th percentile39.810th percentile21.6
Full episodes released in the 12 months to 2 October 2026, in minutes.
10th percentile21.610.1
25th percentile39.822.8
Median episode49.741.8
75th percentile67.261.7
90th percentile104.592.7
Median of show medians56.949.9
Under 30 minutes15.2%30 to 60 minutes50.4%Over an hour34.3%

Are sports podcasts longer than other categories?

Mostly: only comedy and TV and film run longer.

Comedy66 minTV & Film62 minSports57 minThis pageTechnology54 minSociety & Culture54 minHealth & Fitness53 minArts47 minTrue Crime44 minBusiness40 minEducation37 minNews35 min

Median of each show's own median length. Categories with at least 40 charting shows.

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How often do sports podcasts publish?

Sports is a daily business: 34% of these shows put out five or more episodes a week, against 15% of all chart shows. The most common schedule among the 86 charting sports shows is daily (5+ a week) (29).

Daily (5+ a week)29 shows (34%)3–4 a week22 shows (26%)Twice a week6 shows (7%)Weekly7 shows (8%)Less than weekly2 shows (2%)Irregular15 shows (17%)Fewer than 3 in six months1 show (1%)New (under four weeks old)4 shows (5%)

Schedule over the last 182 days of each feed.

How long are the top sports podcasts?

The ten highest on Apple's US Sports chart, with each show's median episode. Across all 85 charting sports shows the range runs from Yesterday in Sports (9 min) to Pardon My Take (160 min).

Show
1160 min2117 min799 min977 min358 min1057 min649 min543 min441 min835 min
Apple Podcasts US Sports chart, 2 October 2026.
1Pardon My Take160 min12.9
2The Bill Simmons Podcast117 min12.5
3Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast58 min13.6
4The Dan Le Batard Show41 min116.9
5DOUBLE COVERAGE PODCAST43 min2.3
6Pablo Torre Finds Out49 min13.2
7The Ryen Russillo Show99 min12.4
8On The Line with Jim Pyne35 min5.2
9New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce77 min4.7
10Fantasy Football Today57 min34.0

How many sports podcasts are there?

The Podcast Index lists 180,065 shows filed under Sports, 4.1% of all podcasts. 25,528 of them published in the 90 days to 26 September 2026: 14.2% of the category, a higher survival rate than the 9.4% for all podcasts.

Questions

How long should a sports podcast be?

There is no rule, but the top-charting sports shows have a median episode of 57 minutes, and half of their episodes run between 40 and 67 minutes.

How many episodes a month do sports podcasts release?

The median charting sports show released 14.2 episodes a month over the last six months; 34% published daily and 8% weekly.

What share of sports podcast episodes are over an hour?

34.3% of the 21,587 sports episodes released in the past year ran over 60 minutes, and 15.2% were under 30.

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Where do these numbers come from?

Slice, The State of Podcasting 2026: the RSS feed of every show on Apple Podcasts' top charts in six countries and eleven US genre charts, read on 2 October 2026. Category counts from the Podcast Census 2026 (Podcast Index database of 26 September 2026).

n = 85 sports shows and 21,587 episodes. Last updated 2 October 2026.

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