Joe Walker once broadcast 4½ hours of him talking to a former public servant about tax (among other things). It was the best rating episode of his popular Jolly Swagman podcast for all of last year.

Walker’s success – the interview with former Treasury secretary Ken Henry was just one of many long-form chats – goes to show that there’s no magic formula to satisfying Australia’s seemingly insatiable appetite for podcasts, Spotify’s local boss says. And there’s more to the format than 20-minute bursts of true crime.