Podcast clips for social media: what editing costs

Key takeaways

Podcast clip editing cost depends on how many clips you want per episode. Finding, cutting, captioning and sizing 3 to 5 clips takes about 2 to 4 hours, so as an indicative UK figure it costs £150–£400 per episode. Good timestamps from you cut the time.

• £150–£400 per episode covers 3 to 5 captioned clips, indicatively.
• Each clip needs a hook in the first few seconds.
• Your timestamps of the best moments save editing time.
• Audio-only podcasts need audiograms or a video recording.

What is podcast clip editing?

Podcast clip editing is turning a long episode into short vertical videos for Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube Shorts. The editor finds the strongest moments, trims them to 30 to 90 seconds, adds captions and a hook title, and sizes them for each platform.

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• Repurposing content across social media channels

How much do podcast clips cost per episode?

Three to five clips from one episode take about 2 to 4 hours including listening, cutting, captions and exports. At the £75–£100 an hour implied by typical UK retainers, that is about £150–£400 an episode. These are indicative figures, not a GBL price list.

• Three captioned clips: indicative £150–£250.
• Five clips with titles and thumbnails: indicative £250–£400.
• Audiograms for audio-only shows: similar per clip.
• Full episode edit: priced separately.

• Social media video production costs in the UK

What makes podcast clips cheaper to produce?

Recording in video, sending timestamps and keeping a standard template make clips cheaper. An editor who has to listen to a full hour to find moments spends most of the fee searching. A list of three timestamps from the host can halve that time.

• Record video, not just audio.
• Send timestamps of the best answers.
• Use one caption and title template.
• Batch several episodes at once.

Do audio-only podcasts work on social media?

They can, but less well than video. Audio-only clips need an audiogram, a static image with moving captions and a waveform. They are cheaper than editing video but usually hold attention for less time. If you can, record future episodes on camera.

When are podcast clips not worth paying for?

Clips are not worth paying for when the episode has no clear moments: long introductions, slow answers and no opinions. The fix is in the recording. Plan two or three strong questions per episode, ask guests for short answers and the clips almost cut themselves.

• Social media hooks that stop the right people scrolling

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with UK professional services firms that run a podcast: the episodes get few listens, but short clips of one clear answer get shared. Global Bridge Labs (GBL) cuts each episode into a small set of captioned clips and schedules them over the following weeks.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

Podcast clip checklist

Agree these with your editor.

• Clips per episode and target length.
• Who supplies timestamps.
• Caption style, title and brand template.
• Platforms and sizes needed.
• Guest permission to use their clips.

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Next step

Send us an episode and tell us where you want the clips to run. We will tell you how many strong clips it holds.