Every day I’m faced with a few 10-second choices: What podcast episode will I listen to while I exercise, and which YouTube videos will I watch when I need a break? I’ve found that the name of the episode is often the deciding factor, and some titles are more effective than others.
Today I’m going to highlight some podcast episode names (screenshots from Overcast on my phone) that help me make this 10-second decision and others that could use some work. These are all podcasts that I subscribe to, so any constructive criticism comes from place of love: I want them to have the best chance of drawing people into every episode.
The One-Stop Co-op Shop and The Meeple Dungeon both start their episode names with an episode number. While this isn’t helpful to the listener in the moment, maybe it’s useful if someone goes back into all archived episodes. It also shows a podcast’s longevity. Still, unless there’s an organizational reason (sorting by number), I think the number is the least important part of these names and could instead follow “Card Crafting” or “Hummingbirds & If Then”, both of which are very clear as to what the episode is about.
Garrett’s Games & Geekiness lists the podcast name in the episode name, which is redundant. Just “Summer Vacation Games” by itself would work fine; even better, “Top 10 Summer Vacation Games” or “[insert any specific game] & Other Summer Vacation Games”.
As for the Tabletop Bellhop (“Getting Carded”), I don’t think the episode name is enough to grab and inform a potential listener. All I know from it is that it’s probably about cards (a huge category for tabletop games) and maybe it’s about more mature games (“getting carded”). I think it would much better meet the 10-second test (which is generous–it’s often more like 3 seconds) if it were, “Federation, Thunder Road Vendetta, & 3 Card Games”. This removes the mystery and makes it instantly clear what the episode covers.
Dice Camera got a little too clever by combining two related topics into the title, and as a result the name went a little long. This podcast is a discussion about a game and a movie, so just call it that: “Thunder Road: Vendetta & Mad Max”.
Last, the book podcast–Poured Over (“Walter Mosley on Ghalen”)–is a tricky one. If I’ve heard of the author or the book, it’s great. But for those who haven’t, they need something else to draw them in. Perhaps “Walter Mosley on Ghalen: Love in Los Angeles” (based on the description of the episode).
Shut Up & Sit Down’s cheeky title (#297 – Fomorian Fisheries) is certainly on brand, but it tells me next to nothing about what I will find in the episode. When I’m scrolling through Overcast, the episode names need to instantly explain the main topic of the episode–they can’t require me to decipher a clever alliteration. As noted above, they are also using precious space for an episode number that doesn’t help the listener. The games actually covered in this episode are Moytura, Azure, Conservas, and Daydream–that’s the title right there.
I don’t have any notes about the Covenant Cast (“Tabletop Isn’t Digital”). It tells me the topic of conversation, plain and simple. Similar feelings about the Game Developer Podcast, though it runs a little long (space could be saved by removing the episode number at the beginning).
Gaming in the Wild mostly does the right thing by listing the primary games he’s discussing (“290: Black Jacket, Moonsigil Atlas, Summer Game Fest”), but I probably would have cut “Summer Game Fest” due to the risk of the name getting cut off due to character limits.
Last is the Cautionary Tales podcast (“The Dunning Canoe-ger Effect”). I don’t know what this means. In contrast, the short description of this episode is really intriguing–I wish they had pulled more from that instead for the title.
This last batch mostly works well, with 3 podcasts simply listing the guest’s name or the name of the game they’re discussing: Board Game Hot Takes (“Emberleaf”), Lens and Veil (“EP #37: Eternal Decks”, though the “EP #37” is extraneous as discussed above), and Smartless (“Jon Bernthal”).
A Bit of Optimism’s episode name runs a little long (“How to Stop Letting Your Own Thoughts Make You…”), but that won’t be the case on all podcast apps, and there’s enough here for me to make a quick decision. Interestingly, this is actually a conversation between the host (Simon Sinek) and a guest (Dr. Ellen Langer), but the guest’s name doesn’t appear until the very end of the title, resulting in it being cut off. However, that might be okay for more niche guests.
As for A Double Double ‘N Dice, “Back to it” does not help a potential listener. The description also doesn’t list any specific games, but I would have included one or two of them in the title instead of the vague “Back to it”.
I’ll end on a high note: I actually think that the Family Trips episode name is one of the best ways of highlighting a guest: “BROOKS WHEELAN Went to Noah’s Arc in the Wisc…”. Yes, it runs long, but that’s almost the point: It’s leading you into a story that will be told in the episode. That extra bit of context is helpful, especially when the same celebrity is doing a media circuit.
I’m the host of 2 podcasts (Stonemaier Games and Positively Board Gaming) and our YouTube channel, and one simple thing I’ve found is simply to subscribe to my own content. That way I can see how it appears on my feed along with everything else and if the title format (or thumbnail) needs improvement.
How do you feel about episode titles? Are episode numbers useful to you? I’d love to hear about your process of deciding which episodes to listen or watch (podcasts or videos).
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