PodMov Daily: Friday, October 25

Episode 73: Week Download Complete

Studio Ochenta's Original Podcasts: More with Lory Martinez

This Friday’s featured article is Part II of our conversation with Lory Martinez, founder and CEO of the Studio Ochenta. To accompany our discussion of Mija podcast, we learned about two other fresh shows from Ochenta Originals. Wine School Dropout and How Not to Travel are narrative, educational podcasts that present complex topics in accessible, responsible format.

“Podcasting is a global medium and your listener can be discovering your podcast because they looked up wine, or looked up New York City, and they found this podcast,” Martinez says. “That’s their introduction to the culture and you have to be conscious about the way you’re representing something. I think that’s so powerful.”

Skye Pillsbury's Full-Circle Questions for Heavyweight's Jonathan Goldstein

On the hit Gimlet podcast Heavyweight, “host Jonathan Goldstein eases friends and listeners, and sometimes himself, into revisiting and redeeming regrets.” Skye Pillsbury, the creator of newsletter and podcast Inside Podcasting, was featured last year to discuss a mysterious event of her adolescence.

Pillsbury sat down with Goldstein to “ask him all the questions [she] had stored away” during the episode’s production. Their conversation spans the origins of Heavyweight, why Pillsbury’s pitch made the cut, and what happens when explorations of the past hit a dead end.

“You can have good writing and clever jokes,” Goldstein says about his documentary philosophy. “But the thing that is the most lasting, the thing that people connect with most is vulnerability.”

How to Leverage Your Back Catalog: Identifying Consistent Value

When growing and promoting your podcast, dipping into your back catalog is not only acceptable but a proven method to increase engagement. Dan Misener returns to the question of how to best leverage your finished content, “especially if your episodes are evergreen or have a long shelf life.”

“We’ve seen many examples where high-quality episodes continue to pay download dividends long after their initial release,” writes Misener. The key is to “identify the episodes most deserving of the spotlight” which will “give us the best bang for our promo buck.”

Start by identifying specific episodes that have held listeners’ attention. After all, “the great thing about back catalog episodes is that you already have real-world audience data about episode effectiveness.”

Do These Count as Poems? Podcasting in 5 Words

Happy Friday, readers. Many of you made us think, but mostly laugh, this week with your replies to our deep question. Keep them coming, please! Stop, drop, and roll.

Cheers,
Team PM

Here's what else is going on:

• Light switch: The 6-month-old Luminary has named a new CEO after announcing $30 million in funding. The Verge reports that Simon Sutton, formerly president and chief revenue officer at HBO, will step in to lead the startup. Matt Sacks will move to a role as executive chairman.

• Garden variety: In its first podcast production joint venture outside the U.S., Sony Music has partnered with producer/independent creator Renay Richardson to launch the multi-genre Broccoli Content, “focused on the development and distribution of original programming.”

• Be heard: Jacobs Media has announced that registration is open for commercial radio stations to participate in Techsurvey 2020. Last year, over “500 radio stations across North America” contributed over “50,000 respondents” to help broadcasters better thrive in the media landscape.

• Siren song: Radiodays Europe has announced that 2020’s Podcast Day will be June 16. The venue, The Mermaid, is in the heart of London’s city center “near some of the iconic sites along the river Thames.” Registration and a call for speakers and sessions will open later this year.