How to launch a podcast in a crowded space
By Josh Adley, Director of Commercial & Client Relations at Listen Entertainment
Most people will agree that podcasting is becoming increasingly popular in terms of the number of people listening globally. At the same time, according to MyPodcastReviews there are a huge amount of new shows being launched every month. In October alone, nearly 100,000 podcasts were added to Apple Podcasts.
Having a clear strategy and point of difference for your podcast is essential to stand out from the crowd. It’s not always possible and it’s rarely easy, but some podcasts manage it, and in the process, create something extremely valuable.
The purpose of this blog is to outline how one of our clients (Super 6) have managed to do this and to focus on the 3 key areas that I believe formed the recipe for success for their podcast.
Before I get into the how, I’ll touch on the what and the why.
What did the Super 6 team want to do?
Launch a brand new football podcast that would make a splash going into the new season (no mean feat in such a competitive space), as well as drive more people to play the Super 6 game every week.
Why did Super 6 want to launch a podcast?
The Super 6 brand is a powerful one. Over 1 million people play the game each week — it forms part of many football fans’ weekly routine. There was a real opportunity to ‘do more’ with the brand — super serve their audience with some completely new content (whilst also reminding them to play) and find new players for the game at the same time. So far, this season has seen over 2,000 new players referred by friends and an increase in retention for the games in midweek rounds.
How did Super 6 launch successfully?
1. The strategy of the hosts
I think we can all agree the role of the host(s) in any podcast is essential. From the outset, it was clear that Laura Woods and Bayo Akinfenwa were going to be a leading strength of this podcast. The two have worked together on TV before and so their natural chemistry is further supported by a trust and working relationship. Laura is an experienced broadcaster (Sky Sports, talkSPORT) constantly across all of the big stories of the Premier League, able to offer great insight and behind the scenes of interviewing top players and managers. Bayo brings the ‘Crouch factor’ — a current player who can give us the view of a professional footballer at the latter stages of his career with a wealth of experience behind him. He’s got first-hand insight into what really happens on the pitch and in the changing room. Even better, he’s known for being a football league legend and so offers something extra for fans of clubs outside of the top flight.
The temptation for Super 6 might have been to put established Soccer Saturday hosts on the show, but Laura and Bayo bring something different. Their high energy and laid back style complements one another and makes for an entertaining listen. There’s the feeling with every episode that we’re never far away from a funny story, piece of gossip, insider info or prank. Quite simply, they are a brilliant pairing and great choice for the show.
2. The strategy of the content
As soon as editorial conversations began, there was unified agreement that this podcast should be fun, playful and insightful. It never wanted or needed to be a weekly analysis show. There are plenty of brilliant podcasts already covering this space. Our Producer and Exec spent considerable time talking through the structure of the show with the Super 6 team and worked up format points that would keep the show fresh and exciting each week, playing to its strengths. Those strengths being the presenters’ chemistry and the access to fantastic guests.
The guests have proven to be hugely popular and there are clear (and unsurprising) spikes in listening numbers when the big names appear (Michail Antonio, Jack Wilshere, Jeff Stelling). The latest episode features Watford captain, Troy Deeney. The Super 6 team wanted conversations with guests to be different to what you’d find on TV or radio. There’s the opportunity with a podcast to dig a little deeper — find out how they made it into the game, what’s going on in the dressing room (a topic Bayo is familiar with) and discuss the highs and lows of their career. These talking points have regularly been picked up by press throughout the series.
3. The strategy of the promotion
I’ve left this point until last, but don’t mistake that for it being any less important to the first two. As the industry of podcasting grows, many things happen. The expectation around quality increases (both the content and sound quality). Something else that happens is the industry professionalises. More money is spent (and received) and often those who want to launch a podcast with a splash will spend media budget to help them do so. As soon as we began editorial conversations with the Super 6 team about this podcast we started talking about promotion. They were about to enter a hugely competitive space and were starting from scratch. At Listen we have a long list of ways to promote your podcast and we will discuss all of these in an early strategic session with a client. I won’t list them all here, but instead focus on a few key ones.
a) Audio ads
One of the best places to promote your podcast is in other podcasts. Even better — be specific about your audience and target them. Who do you want to reach and what podcasts are they already listening to? We pulled together a media plan for Super 6 for how we recommended they spend a significant portion of their media budget within audio. We defined the target audience, created 2 x 30 second adverts and placed them in the podcasts that their future listeners were enjoying. Importantly, we didn’t stop there. We monitored and optimised. A few episodes in, we realised we had some brilliant new content from the show itself and so updated our adverts to reflect this. Now you can hear actual snippets from the show in the adverts, making it even more appealing to drive listeners. When we had a big guest planned, we upweighted the spend around that episode to further promote the episode.
b) Social content
We film every episode of the Super 6 podcast. The full episode is available to watch on YouTube (and to the large following Super 6 have in that space), but the primary use of the filming is to cut up key segments to promote on socials. There is a clear driver from the best clips being shared online, to people listening to the episode in full.
c) Presenter’s network
There’s nothing more frustrating than having hosts on your podcast who don’t feel invested in the show and don’t want to support it. Laura and Bayo regularly share clips from the show and the behind the scenes of recording. Listeners love them and want to feel a part of the action. The two have a strong following on their socials (Instagram: LW — 271k / BA — 1.3m, Twitter: LW — 402k / BA — 261k) and they use it to drive listeners to the show.
d) Super 6 assets & internal comms
When you are part of the Sky Sports family you have some incredibly valuable assets at your disposal. It’s important to be joined up internally and utilise every channel you can. The podcast has featured on the Sky Sports website, app and even been pushed via internal comms to all staff. If you’ve got it… use it.
e) Podcast apps
I wrote a piece a few months ago about the power of branded podcasts and how valuable it is to have your show (and brand) visible in the top podcast apps. This show is no different and so at Listen we made it a priority to pitch the show for support and were successful. The show was featured on the main Apple Podcasts carousel (and currently sits as no.1 in the ‘Shows We Love’ section), as well as in Castbox, Deezer and Spotify.
I referred to the above 3 points as ‘the strategy of…’ on purpose. Each of these 3 elements are essential when planning the launch of a new show. They require discussion, debate, insight and ideas. This all falls part of strategic conversations we have with our clients. Things rarely fall perfectly into place by accident, especially when timings are tight. We provide the structure for these conversations, so that by the time you hit production, everything runs smoothly.
Sources:
Daniel J. Lewis, My Podcast Reviews
