Structuring Your Podcast Pre-Roll

There are so many elements to consider when producing a podcast. You have to make sure your content is on point, sound is superb, the look of your logo is appealing and you’re promoting where your target audience is at. Then there’s the structure of your episode; what flow will your listeners enjoy most and what can I put in place to draw them in early. This is where a pre-roll can help; it’s the first couple of seconds that you have to grab the listener’s attention. This short but important part of your episode gives the first impression and convinces the listener to keep listening or switch to something else. Let’s talk about ways to optimize your pre-roll.

Choose the Right Music 

Your jingle is the music in your intro; it sets the mood for your episode. You want to make sure your music matches the tone of your podcast and in time your audience will associate that music with your show exclusively. Think of it as the Law & Order SVU intro, whenever you hear it you already know what time it is. With this in mind as you develop your show you may need to change the music to match the overall tone and direction for the long term.

Sets the Tone

The music should match the energy of your podcast. If you have exciting content, then calming music would not be the type of music you would want. If you are a true crime podcast then you should pick tones that are more ominous. 

Keep in mind you can have no music in your pre-roll and instead have music in your intro that comes in after. Its all dependent at what you’re going for and it’s ok to play around with your sound for the 1st few episodes or seasons until you find what works for you and your audience.

Be Concise:

Your pre-roll should be short, sweet, and to the point. If you have lyrics to your jingle make sure it includes the name of your podcast and what it’s about. Say what you need to say in as few words as possible. Make sure you keep in mind how much information you are presenting in your pre-roll, because you want to save the big stuff for your main content. If your pre-roll is too long you could lose your listeners attention. 

Your pre-roll can be:

  • A short overview of what the episode will be about

  • A little excerpt about your week (make sure it ties into the episode topic )

  • A snippet from an engaging portion of the episode

  • An ad placement

To pre-roll ad or not:

Often times people question if they should place an Ad in their pre-roll and though there’s no right or wrong answer; think of it this way, would you want to be sold something before you even knew what you were getting from it? So although pre-roll ads are effective in ensuring your audience here’s the message, do you really want that to be the first thing your listeners hear?

Instead keep your pre-roll to pull your audience in and instead sell a mid roll at a premium charge. This way your listeners are pulled in by your content and can determine if they want to subscribe, rather than losing them before getting the chance to draw them in. As you audience and brand grows you can them sell a pre and mid roll, because at that point you have a community of people supporting what you’ve built.

All in all just make sure as you create that you have structure as it provides your audience with a road map of what their getting each episode.

StructureJanae Strickland-Nunn