Compiled by Trent Thomas
The Beanies have joined the news cycle
Podcast creators and children’s music group The Beanies have launched a new podcast on LiSTNR called The Beanies Kids News.
This is the third podcast by the group that also produce the Show & Tell and Story Time podcasts.
The new podcast aims to engage children in day to day news issues, breaking it down for kids and providing fact-based overviews on the news of the week.
Mediaweek‘s Trent Thomas spoke to Laura Dawson and Miriam “Mim” Rizvi, and Michael Yore about the latest expansion to their podcast offering.
When asked why they saw a need for a new podcast in this market, Dawson said that kids were living in a time with a lot of important things happening that they needed to understand.
Dawson: “We really just saw a need for it, kids these days are going through so many historical events in their very short life. Kids coming into pre-school and kindergarten, almost half of their life has been Covid and all sorts of different things going on, and kids are aware of it.
“We thought it was important that they had somewhere they could go to get news and information that they could understand and help them piece together what is happening in the world.”
When asked how they go about making news content for children the group said that:
Rizvi: “It does change a little bit, it is important they know what is going on but we also don’t want to scare them.
“Sometimes news can be a little bit scary so we make sure we give it a little bit of a fun twist and present everything in a fun and kind way.
“At the end, we also have three quiz questions to make sure that they have been listening and a joke as well that is relevant to the news.
Yore: “We also have our Professor Know It All character who is our knowledge base, for The Beanies whenever they want to ask further questions about the world, that is where we go to ask those questions.”
This is now their third podcast when asked about the state of affairs for the rest of their stable The Beanies said that they are happy with how it is all going.
Dawson: “During lockdown last year we created more podcasts and things to do while we couldn’t be on the road.
“It has a nice array of categories and having the news podcast come last has actually served us quite well because parents and kids kind of trust by now.”
When asked why podcasts are a good format for their young demographic, Rizvi said that is because kids are growing up with so many different options for video content, that this provides an alternative option.
Rizvi: “Kids are growing up with a lot of options for screen entertainment and while that is very important for having a lot of fun and very important for giving parents a break. We have really observed that a lot of parents just who are becoming parents now are really worried about that because we didn’t grow up with screens as much and it is a cause for concern with limiting their imagination or their ability to get bored and then make up their own games.
“The podcast is a happy medium between those two things. We offer the storey and an immersive experience for children but we are not feeding you all of the information. So they get stories and sound effects, and then they get to imagine the rest in their head which keeps that muscle in their brain active and working.”
[Listen to The Beanies podcasts here]
How Nova Entertainment lured Diamantina
Antony Stockdale is the founder of Diamantina Media (DM) and looks after strategy and partnerships. DM linked up with iHeartPodcast Network in 2020 after running a ruler over what other major platforms could offer his growing podcast network. But he got a better offer.
This week Stockdale confirmed a new podcast partner. DM Podcasts will be joining the Nova Entertainment Podcast Network (NEPN), in a strategic partnership that will see Nova host and commercialise their slate of popular podcasts, alongside an investment in shared original podcast titles.
The partnership will see Nova Entertainment represent DM Podcast’s network of shows across popular categories in sport, comedy and entertainment, which includes the award winning The Betoota Advocate Podcast, Becky & Cam Hotline and So Dramatic!, as well as developing and releasing new co-productions titles.
Kane Reiken, Nova Entertainment’s digital commercial director said, “The Nova Entertainment Podcast Network is known as a network built for brands, and this partnership with Diamantina Media showcases our continued commitment to building and supporting quality local original content which creates new contextual, and talent led environments for our clients.”
Stockdale said this week, “We are excited to partner with Nova Entertainment. This co-production deal is the first of its type in Australia and we believe this is the future for podcasting. DM Podcasts is thrilled that NEPN share the same vision and ambition that we do. We believe this partnership is the best of both worlds, allowing us to maintain our voice as authentic, independent content creators, with the support, knowledge and resources of Australia’s fastest growing media business.”
See also: Diamantina Media builds podcast portfolio: Two more this week
Aussie stars on NBC Olympic podcast
The Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games is broadcast on Seven this week. The longtime Olympic rights holder in the US is NBC. The network invests a massive amount into its Olympic coverage and part of that investment this year includes a podcast series called The Podium.
In the latest episode of The Podium podcast, NBC talks to Nikki Webster, Sydney 2000’s “Hero Girl”, about being the protagonist of the biggest show on earth and how the Opening Ceremony fits national identity, sports and pageantry into one stadium.
Starting July 23rd, The Podium will be coming to listeners daily from the ground in Tokyo to bring new stories along with fresh takes on the events of the day.
The Best of Olympic podcasts
In addition to the Seven Network series of Olympic podcasts we talked about recently, there is a multitude of offerings if you need more than the 45 TV channels carrying Seven’s coverage, or the audio offering from exclusive Olympic radio rights holder SEN.
See also: Seven counts down to Olympics with new podcast
Blind Landing: Australia also features heavily in this five-episode series from US reporter Ari Saperstein. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, the greatest gymnasts in the world gathered in Sydney in pursuit of their ultimate prize: gold in the women’s gymnastics All-Around final. But in the midst of the competition, something inexplicable and unprecedented happened that derailed the event –– a mistake that changed the gymnasts’ lives forever. Through original interviews with Olympic gymnasts, coaches and officials, Blind Landing reveals the untold true story of one of the biggest mistakes in Olympic history.
The Ticket with Tracey Holmes: Prolific podcaster and ABC presenter and reporter Holmes is up to 50 episodes on her sports podcast series. There’s been a big focus on Tokyo in recent episodes including four great releases this month with insights to past and recent controversies and news stories.
Sasha Sessions: A Team USA Podcast If you want some deeper insights in Team USA this is for you. But you might need a bit of spare time. Champion US figure skater Sasha Cohen is the host and there are 30 episodes each about an hour long. Exceptional individuals share the stories that shaped them, how they define identity, and the motivations, habits, and opportunities that led to personal reinvention. Guest athletes come from all sports and backgrounds.
Listen to Sasha Sessions here.
Off the Podium: Three men who dream of US Olympic glory and have as much athletic prowess as a piece of cheese sit down (or stand up) and discuss the Olympics, bringing daily updates, segments and attempted humour. 100 episodes for you to sample.
Listen to Off the Podium here.
Olympics Unleashed, Tokyo: The series features Aussie athletes on their journey to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and is sponsored by Optus. Throughout the series, presented by Olympian David Culbert, you hear from Olympians, athletes aspiring to make the Tokyo 2020 Australian Olympic Team and from some of the most senior people driving the Olympic Movement in Australia. 38 episodes are available.
Listen to Olympics Unleashed here.
News podcasts generate most US ad revenue
News held the largest share of US podcast ad revenues in 2020 compared with other genres, reports Insider Intelligence. Comedy and science also cracked the top three podcast genres, while more specialised topics, like true crime and sports, garnered smaller shares of the market, worth an estimated US$960m last year.
Crime rates well down under. A recent round-up of the highest earning podcasts around the world estimated Australian True Crime as the #1 cash box in Australia. The value attributed to it annually was just under $4m.
Sly of the Underworld returns
Readers of The Age have long enjoyed the work of crime reporter John Silvester (aka Sly of the Underworld). He launched season four of his podcast series Naked City earlier this month. Here is part of his intro to the fourth season:
On my first day in journalism, I made the editor laugh when I asked, “Where is my office?”
I have had 28 editors since and have made many of them laugh, usually when asking for a pay rise. One threatened to punch me, one (a middle-aged male) kissed me on the lips when I presented him with a scoop, one couldn’t spell my name, one looked perplexed when I gave him cash as an attempted bribe to get on page one, and another was bemused that during a one-on-one performance review I gave him seven out of ten – he lost points for not running enough crime stories. Apparently, he wanted to rate me, not the other way around.
John Silvester with Chopper Reid
My first two lessons in journalism were thus: 1) Listen to your editor and 2) Don’t trust everyone in the newsroom.
Now we are told to use different platforms – print, online and podcasts. (Here is the self-promotion bit. We’ve just launched the fourth series of the Naked City podcast. Is it any good you ask? Put it this way, the tuxedo has been dry-cleaned for the anticipated Walkley call-up.)
The Naked City podcast gives me a chance to catch up with the people who make the news. It is a reminder that while issues are worthy, it is the people who are interesting.
Crooked partners with Acast for international opportunities
Crooked Media has partnered with Acast to monetise its podcasts internationally, enabling buyers in Australia and New Zealand as well as Canada, the UK, and Ireland, to advertise across its programming and reach audiences in these regions for the first time.
Advertisers in the markets will be able to purchase inventory across Crooked shows including Pod Save America, Lovett or Leave It, and Pod Save The World to start.
“We’ve been able to build great relationships with advertisers through our honest and sometimes ridiculous host read spots, with many of those sponsors with us since we founded the company,” said Joel Fowler, VP of commercial marketing and creative strategy at Crooked Media.
Crooked joins a number of publishers, networks, and media companies using Acast to monetise podcast programming outside of its country of origin, including Vice, BBC, PBS NewsHour, CBC, A+E Networks, The Guardian, and others.
Piccolo Podcasts and Media launches ad-tech platform
Sydney-based Piccolo Podcasts and Media has launched Podshare, an online ad-tech platform designed to directly connect independent podcasters with brands. Podshare is promising to make podcast monetisation effortless, and allow brands to connect directly to targeted audiences with host read ads, as well as more native branding formats like unboxings, reviews, guest interviews and more.
“As podcasters ourselves, we understand the incredible creativity and hard work that goes into putting a podcast together, and we want podcasters to be rewarded for that,” said founder of Podshare and Piccolo Podcasts, Andrew Menczel.
“Our platform will make it easy for brands big and small, local and international to find your podcast and sign up to advertise with you.”
For podcasters, there’s no sign-up costs, no listing fees and no upfront costs of any kind. Once ads are purchased by a business, revenue is split 70/30, giving podcast creators 70% of revenue directly.
For advertisers, there’s no agency fees, no signup fees and no hidden costs of any kind. Rates range from $60-$150 per 1000 listeners on a CPM basis.
