Why launch a podcast?
More than half a billion people will listen to podcasts in 2024. This is almost twice the number of listeners just five years ago.
The number of podcast shows has also grown significantly. Spotify hosts over 5m podcasts, and Apple Podcasts, 2.5m. (There is of course an overlap, with shows featuring on more than one platform.)
This makes podcasting an enormous, if sometimes crowded, market.
But there are plenty of niches for new podcasts to fill. And podcasts are one of the most attractive ways to deliver “long form” content.
The ideal podcast episode length is widely considered to be between 20 and 40 minutes. This allows a much deeper dive into complex or technical topics than a typical blog post, which can be read in just a few minutes.
Publications and brands are using podcasts to deliver insights into their subject areas, for thought leadership, and to build up a loyal audience. But to make the best of the opportunity, it pays to use an experienced podcast producer.
Stephen Pritchard started writing, presenting and producing online audio content before the term “podcast” entered the dictionaries.
He worked on Cambridge Media Labs’ World of Work careers series, produced for the BBC, on MSN’s Accumulator personal finance programme, and was broadcast editor at financial news startup UK Invest, responsible for its successful City Talk podcast as well as video content.
He later produced podcasts for IT Pro, and went on to present and edit the Financial Times’ Connected Business tech podcast.
He now runs his own cybersecurity podcast, Security Insights, which recently passed the 100 episode milestone.
Podcast services
Stephen offers the following services to help organisations launch new podcasts, or to help manage existing shows:
- Initial consultancy and concept development
- Editorial, episode and workflow planning
- Scripting
- Interviewing
- Presenting
- Recording (in person or remotely) and production
- Editing, post production and distribution