Estimate podcast episode time from script.
Episode runtime is script words over delivery pace, plus everything that is not script. Podcast hosts read at 150 to 165 words a minute — slower than conversational speech because scripted delivery is more deliberate. The additions are what push a script over its slot: each segment transition costs a music sting and a breath, around twelve seconds, and ad breaks are pure runtime with no words attached. Two sixty-second breaks plus four transitions adds nearly three minutes. Reporting the content share makes the trade-off visible, since a heavily monetised episode can drop below 85 percent actual content.
Spoken time
Minutes = script words / host pace words per minute
Total runtime
Runtime = spoken + segments x 12 s transitions + ad breaks x break length
Because read speech is more deliberate. Hosts pause at punctuation, land emphasis and articulate more fully than in spontaneous talk, which runs closer to 170 or 180 words a minute. Using a conversational rate to estimate a scripted episode reliably underestimates runtime.
Work backwards. Subtract ad breaks and transitions from the slot length first, then multiply the remaining minutes by your pace to get the word budget. A 30-minute slot with two ad breaks and four segments leaves about 26 minutes, or roughly 4000 words at 155 wpm.