Stuff You Should Know, one of the most popular podcasts in the world, will soon reach a much larger, more diverse audience. Last year, iHeartMedia bought SYSK‘s production studio, Stuff Media, for $55 million. iHeart has just announced that the hit show and five other podcasts “will be made available early next year in Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, French and German.”
The courting of international audiences is hardly surprising given podcast business trends. With over a billion downloads in its 11-year run, SYSK covers a massive variety of universally fascinating subjects. According to hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant, fan favorites include “episodes about Spam (the canned meat, not the internet variety), hangovers, tipping in restaurants, cheese, Barbie, and pinball.” What a wonderful world.
Earios, the first all-female podcast network, has come a long way. In 2018, comedians Maria Blasucci and Amanda Lund set out to launch their own show. “When we pitched with TV, they’d say ‘Oh, two female leads? That’s not gonna happen,’” said Lund in an interview with Know Your Value (NBC). “There’s this feeling that they may not fully understand why this is funny and that you’re not being trusted.”
Rather than settle, the two decided to create Earios, an all-female podcast media network. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign and the participation of Margaret Cho, the network secured its own LA studio. Most of the podcasts are comedy-based, described by their creators as “funny, smart, inclusive shows for everyone.”
The name Earios “is meant to evoke ‘curio’ — because we like to imagine our slate of shows as a cabinet of curiosities,” the creators explain. Shows can be found on Apple, Stitcher, and Spotify.
Independent podcast groups and audio fiction often go hand in hand. Eli McIlveen and Sean Howard of Fable and Folly Productions started making podcasts in 2011. They went on to create Alba Salix, an award-winning “fairy-tale comedy for the ear,” among others. The two decided to make the network official to launch their first science fiction show, Civilized, earlier this year.
In an interview with Discover the Best Podcasts, Howard explained that they wanted to create “an entity that people can begin to associate with the quality we work so hard to achieve.” The most important question: “Can we leverage this entity to create more opportunities for ourselves and others within our industry?” Affirmative, Sean.
Fable and Folly Productions, home to the improvised, dark-comedy Civilized, represents a solidified vision of 8 creative years. McIlveen and Howard sum up the journey on their site: “[Alba Salix] was first recorded in a blanket stuffed dining room. Today, we are as likely to be found in our at-home third floor studio as we are in a high-end audio production facility.” An audio fiction victory well-deserved.
Happy Thursday, readers! Today’s pre-event Tweet is from Josh Miely, who’s pumped to meet other podcasters. He also posted a sweet #lunarfact from Neil Degrasse Tyson which clearly factored in to our decision.
Put yourselves out there, intrepid creators. We’re publishing a piece tomorrow all about preparing for — and getting the most out of — conferences, personally and professionally. We hope you’ll give it a read and be inspired to share what you care about.
Love,
Team PM
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