The future of news podcasting in the UK

So what is the future of news podcasting? Well Tony Pastor, Co-Founder of Goalhanger and Dino Sofos, CEO of Persephonica would argue that you need to go against traditional norms and invest time into your audience and build your relationship. Both said there are many challenges that appear in the commercial market, specifically when covering the UK elections last year, a time when the Euros took centre stage and politics was sat on the back burner. They may have doubled their audience but their host reads and revenue dropped. However utilising their TV options were key, bringing different age demographics together.

Sam Bonham, Senior News Editor at BBC News’ advice is to put your big podcasts in front of the camera, visualisation has become a huge focus. Seeing podcast explore bigger numbers on
YouTube then Spotify and apple combined.

The subscription model used by Persephonica has showed to be successful, specifically in allowing to connect with the audience. A package available for listeners is the ‘kitchen cabinet’ along with merchandise and add free episodes, members are invited down to watch an episode live. With the fans feeding back that they feel seen or heard and have a sense of community.

Although there was debate in the group on whether there’s still room to enter the market for smaller production companies starting out, Tony believes as long as you have the right tone of voice and personality along with authenticity, you have the perfect recipe to start in the news podcasting world.

image © Hedda Axelsson

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