They say all marriages go through a seven-year itch – that restless moment when something familiar begins to feel too tight, too known, too settled.
For Laura Byrne and Brittany Hockley, that itch didn’t signal a breakdown. It signalled a breakthrough.
After seven years building Life Uncut from a passion project into one of Australia’s biggest podcasts – and six of those spent inside the Australian Radio Network (ARN) stable – the duo is stepping into a new era, officially joining LiSTNR and launching a four-day-a-week release strategy that reframes their show not just as content, but as cornerstone creator IP inside SCA’s audio ecosystem.
The savvy businesswomen even have their own apparel.
A relationship that needed room to grow
“Sometimes change is good. It keeps things interesting,” Byrne told Mediaweek.
“It keeps the teams that are working on your business hungry as well, because it’s new, it’s exciting, it’s fresh, and all that sort of stuff.”
Byrne is quick to praise her former employer, saying that while ARN had been an “incredible home” and the team had shared a great time together, the length of the journey made it clear it was time to evolve and take the next step.
It’s that sense of evolution that has defined the move.
Hockley frames it simply: “It was time for us to open the next chapter and LiSTNR seemed like the perfect place to do it.”
Their decision wasn’t about leaving something behind, but rather about making room for what the brand has become.
“Their brand awareness [LiSTNR] and vision for the future were in alignment with ours,” Hockley adds. “They were very open to a collaborative approach with Life Uncut.”
From two women and a mic to a multi-platform brand
Life Uncut now attracts more than 400,000 listeners per month, has surpassed 100 million downloads, and consistently ranks inside the Triton Australian Podcast Ranker Top 10, most recently at Number 9.
What started in 2019 as candid conversations between best friends is now a multi-platform media brand with:
• 170,000+ Instagram followers
• 2.1 million TikTok likes
• a growing video footprint
• and a deeply loyal community
But the engine underneath that success was never scale-first.
“I think a lot of people do podcast thinking that they’re just going to make money from it. Like it’s an instant business,” Byrne said.
“Yes. Britt and I, we created Life Uncut and for an entire year, we were consistent with putting episodes and we never made a dollar. We focused on growing for a whole year. We did it because it was a passion project. We didn’t do it because we thought it was a revenue-making thing.”
That early grind shaped everything.
“At the time, brands weren’t even confident about investing in podcasting. But we knew we had this amazing community… for us, it’s always been our first and then the branding second and the sales part second.”
Creator IP meets platform scale
Now that community-first DNA is being paired with LiSTNR’s national infrastructure, audience data, cross-platform distribution and commercial technology – including SCA’s AdTech Hub.
For the platform, it’s a strategic creator-to-scale growth play.
For Life Uncut, it’s oxygen.
“We want to put more focus on the video elements of Life Uncut,” Byrne said.
“We’re really, really conscious about the importance of us maintaining and growing our community, which has always been the most important thing to us. And it just aligns with how LiSTNR works and how they have such a great success and track record with all of their existing pods in growing the communities that are around the podcast.”
A new rhythm for a new era
Under the new model, Life Uncut will now release four episodes per week – dropping Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with the new season launching Wednesday, January 28.
For LiSTNR, it anchors the platform within the weekly listening ritual, where loyalty, frequency, and scale now define power.
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Still best friends. Still in sync
Despite recording from different cities at times, the chemistry remains untouched.
“Oh, we are so used to that!” Hockley said.
“Laura and I know each other inside out! We can finish each other’s sentences and are so in sync that it’s no issue. The beauty of podcasting is that you can do it from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection! And over the years, we’ve done many stings long distance.”
Byrne agrees.
“We’ve done it before, and we know each other so well now that it makes no difference. Of course, I love when she’s here, and it’s my favourite to record with her in the room because I get to be in a room with my best friend.”
And they’re bringing their full machine with them.
“Our producer Keeshia Pettit comes with us,” Byrne said. “We’re a package and a well-oiled machine.”
Why the brand partnerships still matter
For both hosts, authenticity isn’t just a creative principle – it’s a commercial filter.
“For us, I think the secret is, there’s no secrets”, Hockley said. “We are very open with our audience and really wanted to make people feel less alone, feel seen and feel heard.”
That philosophy flows directly into how they work with advertisers.
“Partnerships are so important to us,” Hockley said. “It’s important we don’t work with anyone we don’t align with for whatever reason.”
Byrne adds, “You want the ads to feel like they’re an extension of the podcast, especially if you are the one voicing the ad; it’s really important that the brands you’re aligning yourself with are brands that your listeners are going to actually see value in and enjoy.”
And yes – they’re open to taking long-term partners with them.
“We have loved working with all our partners over the years and would love to continue those partnerships, of course,” Hockley says.
The seven-year itch, reimagined: A relationship that’s grown big enough to need more space, more light, more movement.
Or, as Byrne puts it: “It keeps things interesting.”
And as Hockley says: “It was time to open the next chapter.”