Show notes:
Timestamps
00:59 What are the differences between genres when it comes to promotion?
4:52 Peter’s framework for audience development on social media
10:22 How audience growth looked like on YT for Private Parts in the early days
11:49 Besides social media, what are other major growth levers for Spirit?
14:04 How many extra downloads can you expect from a platform feature?
16:43 Paid promotion: Peter’s go-to channels
17:46 The impact of YT short on channel subscriber growth and full-length content views
23:02 What types of clips work well for which social media platform?
28:09 Audience research methodology
28:09 Their approach to video-to-audio conversion
34:59 Podcast Audience development in 2023
Key ideas:
What are the differences between genres when it comes to promotion?
– Spirit Studios see themselves as talent-led entertainment producers.
– They have been in the production game for 10 years.
– They started producing for TV, which influenced their approach to podcasting.
– Their secret sauce is leveraging the following of entertainers (social media influencers, reality TV stars).
– Other examples of this tactic:
– Spotify hiring Kim Kardashian to host a true crime show.
– Dan Snow’s History Hit (Dan Snow is a historian but also a TV personality).
Peter’s framework for audience development on social media
– The fact that their hosts are famous helps a lot with social media promotion.
– Video is especially successful. Audiences want to see the hosts, not just hear them.
– Private Parts was recorded in video format from day 1.
– TikTok is the platform with the highest conversion rate for them.
– Conversion rate: viewing a short video -> listening to full episodes.
– This is influenced by their audience’s demographics.
– Social Media is not just a promotion channel for them. It’s also a secondary source of monetization (Advertisement on YT, creator funds on TikTok).
– The best channel for monetization is YT.
– The channel that gives the biggest reach is TikTok.
How audience growth looked like on YT for Private Parts in the early days
– It didn’t take off for a full year (be it the podcast or Youtube channel).
– An additional hurdle was that, at the time, Private Parts’s core audience (young women) had not broadly adopted podcasts.
Besides social media, what are other major growth levers for Spirit?
- Famous guests: things picked up when they started inviting famous guests and piggybacking on their fan base. This sound obvious now, but it was quite novel at the time.
- Guest podcasting: Jamie (PP’s host) going on other people’s podcasts helped a lot.
- Platform features (Apple, Spotify). For instance, the show Homo Sapiens is focused on the LGBT community. During pride month in June, it becomes editorially relevant and usually gets featured by the platforms.
- PR.
- Paid marketing.
- PVO and SEO.
Their marketing mix is tailored to the country, genre, and audience.
How many extra downloads can you expect from a platform feature?
– The impact of editorial promotion has changed over the years.
– 3 years ago, it was a big thing. The impact is much lower now due to heightened competition in the podcast space.
Paid promotion: Peter’s go-to channels
– They have found podcast-to-podcast marketing to be the most channel, much more than TV or social media.
The impact of YT short on channel subscriber growth and full-length content views
– It is difficult to measure.
– Certain guests tend to have a higher impact on listenership growth when featured in clips. Typically guests with high audience affinity, like Jamie’s former Made in Chelsea co-stars
– They see a high correlation between TikTok views and Spotify downloads. This is probably related to the demographic overlap between the two. They haven’t observed the same correlation with IG reels but were not able to uncover the reason.
What types of clips work well for which social media platform?
– They tend to tailor the clips to the platforms. YT Shorts have to be under 60 seconds, but TikTok or Snapchat content can be as long as 3-4 minutes
– You need to consider each platform’s specificities: why do people go to these platforms? How do they discover content?
– The keys to making viral clips: relevance. The guest and story told in the clip need to hit a chord with the target demographic.
– They prepare and produce the show with social media clips in mind.
– They pick the guests and the questions based on how they think the answer will resonate with the audience.
– They subscribe to a service that lets them know when a celebrity is in town to book them.
Audience research methodology
– They use audience data from hosting platforms, Apple and Spotify.
– They study their podcast reviews and comments on social media.
– This is how they found out that new listeners were eager to discover older episodes. They started systematically clipping their back catalog.
Their approach to video-to-audio conversion
– They try to minimize discrepancies between the video and audio content but will tweak when necessary.
– Some segments that only work visually are left out, but listeners are encouraged to go watch them on YouTube.
Podcast Audience development in 2023
– Competition is increasing
– They have to be more selective about the podcast they choose to produce. This means creating content that fills a gap in the market.
– More emphasis on promotion: PVO, podcast-to-podcast promotion
– Being on top of new trends: being the first mover on new platforms and better podcast analytics tools.
Resources:
Podcasts mentioned:
– Private Parts
– Homo Sapiens
Where to find Peter and Spirit Studios
– Peter’s LinkedIn profile
– Spirit Studios