Ofcom says 39 per cent of UK podcast listeners prefer audio only. Filming costs 3.6 times more per episode. Here is when video is worth it, when it is not, and the nine per cent nobody quotes.

A talking head, three customer testimonials, a recruitment film, a training module, a CEO message and twenty short clips. What four hours in a room that is already rigged actually gets a business, and what it costs.

Studio hire across Greater Manchester and Cheshire runs from about £35 to £210 an hour. Here is what actually sits behind each price band, the costs that never appear on the quote, and the eleven questions to ask before you book anywhere.

A look inside the second recording space at Cheshire Podcast Studio in Bowdon, Altrincham: the set, the cameras, the sound treatment, and the kind of show it suits.

What podcast hosts actually look for in a guest, how to pitch without being ignored, and what to have ready before you ask. Written from the other side of the microphone.

Thirteen years behind a camera, then a room of my own in Bowdon. Why I stopped hiring studios I did not trust, what I got wrong building one, and what I would tell anyone starting out.