Head of podcasts and digital content at Nova Entertainment Rachel Corbett says because podcast audiences take a while to build, Nova “[is] not in the business of being able to wait for three years for a show to really hit its stride.”
“We need to build an audience quickly,” Corbett told Mediaweek.
“[At Nova] we look to bring on board hosts that have an established relationship and strong engagement with their audience.
“Ideally, we want those people who have already invested time with the people that they love on whatever platform it is, and then come across to the podcast. Having those people that we know have built a strong community already is really important when we’re starting a show from scratch.
In September, Nova Podcasts strengthened its reach with 18 to 34-year-old listeners by adding the One Daydream Network’s Just for Girls and Where’s Your Head At? podcasts to its line-up.
Just for Girls and Where’s Your Head At? are created by the newly established One Daydream Network, a podcast production company who produce Australian podcasts across a range of genres.
These signings form the start of a partnership between the One Daydream Network and Nova Entertainment.
“It’s also really important for us to have talent, particularly when we’re looking at commercial potential,” she said.
“We don’t make things that we don’t feel very confident will sell. We are always in close conversations with the commercial department when we’re thinking of partnering with anybody or coming up with anything brand new internally.
“It always has to have commercial interest buy-in, and we have to feel confident that the sales team will be really chuffed to take it out in the market.
“We also need people on board the network who are really comfortable with partnering with brands and who are really happy to read scripts for brands and even potentially, extend out on their social pages with brands, because [brands] are really interested in that.”
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) welcomed figures in September that showed podcast and streaming online audio advertising expenditure increased 23.6% year-on-year in FY24, to $290 million.
The report also showed strong quarterly growth, with a total of $78.9 million for the June Quarter 2024 surpassing the December Quarter 2023 peak of $77.8 million.
Corbett says Nova plans on capitalising on this growth by continually investing in new podcast talent, but also with ongoing education with media agencies.
“Not everybody is adding podcasting to their mix at the moment, so the whole industry needs to keep educating media agencies about how powerful it is when you bring a brand into a podcast, and also educate on the best way way to integrate those brands so that you get the best results.”
The Australian Podcast Bi-Annual Report showed that most podcast listening occurs on Thursdays, and remains strong throughout the week compared to weekends. Corbett says these findings are nothing new for Nova.
“We focus our content during the week because we are trying to catch those early morning listeners by dropping our shows as early as possible. If you’re an early riser and you’re doing the commute early, you can consume it as early as you want,” she said.
“We work to try and create content that is there when people want to consume it, because people choose what their prime time is when it comes to podcasting. It’s no longer you have to be sitting at a TV expecting to watch something at seven o’clock.
“If your prime time is 5 am when you go for a run, and that’s when you consume your favourite content, well, we want to have a show there for you to consume.”