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Introducing 2023’s best Publisher Podcasts
Shortlist day is one of my favourite days of the Media Voices year. The list has been a work in progress since entries closed just before Christmas, so it’s always a real joy to be able to go live and see how happy people are to be recognised for their work.
Beyond that, though, the shortlist each year also encapsulates the evolution of publisher podcasts. Many have now gone beyond straightforward brand-aligned interviews to thinking far more carefully about why audio should be used as a format, and how best to make it sound exquisite. If you’re looking for your next great listen, this list (helpfully categorised with a playlist for each one here) is a good place to start.
This year for the first time, we’ll also be bringing together the expertise and experience of professionals in publishing and podcasting in a Forum, to be held in the afternoon before the ceremony. We’ll discuss some of the biggest pain points publishers face with podcasting, and more importantly, how we can solve them. Tickets are now available for both the Awards and Forum, and we’d love to see you there, whether you’re on the shortlist or not.
“We want to be the destination”: Why NRC built its own audio app
At Twipe’s Digital Growth Summit, NRC’s Chief Digital Officer Han-Menno Depeweg outlined why the publisher decided to invest in podcasts, how it’s helping their subscriber growth, and why their dedicated NRC Audio app is helping future-proof journalistic audio. Since launching their own podcasts, NRC has noticed that the shows are actually the top-performing way that people are brought down the subscriber funnel.
Why content on Snapchat has become less profitable for some news publishers
This is really interesting because I feel like no one ever talks about Snapchat any more, but it’s still a pretty decent revenue stream for some publishers. Kayleigh Barber speaks to a number of publishers about how they’re doing, including navigating algorithm and priority shifts. Different platform, same story.
How to address accessibility in news
The Washington Post has hired its first Accessibility Engineer, Holden Foreman. He’s responsible for maintaining up-to-date standards across the Post’s products, as well as researching new opportunities for accessibility, and more. Marina Adami chats to him about the role and how publishers can start to address issues around accessibility.
NEW EPISODE: Financial Times’ Head of Newsletters Sarah Ebner on the varied role of newsletters
On this week’s episode, we hear from Sarah Ebner, Executive Editor and Head of Newsletters at the Financial Times. She tells us about her role leading the newsletter team at the FT, and the value of newsletters in subscriber acquisition and retention but also as paid products in their own right.
