Compiled by Grace Gollasch and Tess Connery
Behind the wheel with Along For The Ride – the third podcast from carsales and LiSTNR
The car is a perfect place for open, raw, honest, and hilarious conversation – and both carsales and LiSTNR know this well.
Along for the Ride is the third podcast collaboration between carsales.com.au and LiSTNR, and sees host Anthony Madaffari, lifestyle editor at carsales, jump into the passenger seat of cars owned by well-known Australians.
Podcast Week’s Tess Connery spoke to Madaffari about how the podcast came together.
Anthony Madaffari
“As part of carsales, we have our news and reviews section,” says Madaffari. “About six years ago, I came on board with carsales to launch carpool, which is our lifestyle section – we’re one of the only auto outlets that offer a lifestyle content section that doesn’t really talk to the enthusiast, it’s very much about everybody. Along For The Ride is an audio extension of that.”
The podcast is the third in a four part partnership between carsales and LiSNTR, with the previous two being Watts Under The Bonnet and The Showroom. Whilst it’s part of the same collaboration, Madaffari says that Along For The Ride is very different from its predecessors.
“Along For The Ride is very much lifestyle and about the ride itself. Watts Under The Bonnet really focuses on EVs and electric cars, whereas The Showroom is your traditional car enthusiast podcast.
“With Along For The Ride, what we wanted to do was talk to the idea of road trips, adventures, journeys, and the things that people who are really A-to-B-ers care about. An A-to-B-er really only needs a car to get to work, or to the shops, or to go on trips – they’re not really attached to a car the same way as someone who might listen to our other podcasts are, but cars are a part of their life. We wanted to explore that with some well known Aussies.”
Those well known Aussies include people like FOX FM Breakfast announcer Brendan Fevola, former Australian sprinter and host of Better for It Katie Williams, Triple M Sydney’s The Rush Hour announcer Wendell Sailor, former Triple M presenter and horse racing commentator Emma Freedman, and Australia Today host Steve Price.
The people Madaffari joins in the car come from a number of places, and all bring their own unique stories to the podcast.
“A couple of the guests are friends of carsales. Our first guest is Grant Denyer, he actually races cars with our Head of Content, Mike Sinclair. Over the years they’ve raced against each other in things like the Bathurst 12 Hour and Targa in Tasmania.
“Otherwise, we’ve got a handful of guests that are part of the Southern Cross Austereo family who were happy to come along and tell us their stories. We’ve also been reaching out to our OEM friends – car brands and their PR teams, they’ve got ambassadors so we’ve been working with them. For example, Volvo have an ongoing relationship with Matt Shirvington, so they put him forward and he was more than happy to take us for a drive and walk down memory lane.”
Ultimately, Madaffari hopes that Along For The Ride brings listeners a better understanding of the guests that the podcast features.
“Some of our guests do have reputations in the media for being party animals, or grumpy, or heaps of things. I think you get to know these people a bit better, because it’s not as manicured, and not as scripted.
“But also, it’s that whole walk down memory lane. Hearing what someone else’s first car is, you might get reflective and think about that a bit more. It’s a bit of escapism, it’s a bit of being nosy about these celebs. But also we share this whole car culture without really knowing that we do as Australians, and I think this is just a good conversation starter.”
[Listen to Along For The Ride here]
Podcast Ranker November 2022: Hamish and Andy return to #1
Triton Digital‘s Australian Podcast Ranker has been released for November, giving insight into the Top 100 Podcasts and the Top 10 Publishers in Australia. The survey period was from November 1 to November 30 2022, as measured by Triton’s Podcast Metrics measurement service.
Taking the cake is LiSTNR’s Hamish and Andy, reclaiming their #1 spot after falling behind ARN’s Casefile True Crime last month. The podcast recorded 985,939 monthly listeners and 2,152,836 downloads in November.
Despite its fall, Casefile True Crime still remained near the top, placing second with 929,713 monthly listeners and 2,374,403 downloads.
Debuting at third was Mamamia’s Mamamia Out Loud, with 562,289 monthly listeners and 1,779,957 downloads across 26 episodes.
Dropping one spot to be pushed out of the top three was ARN’s Life Uncut with Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne. The podcast had 486,275 monthly listeners tune in and 1,438,935 monthly downloads.
Rounding out the top five was The Kyle & Jackie O Show, with 484,718 monthly listeners and 1,852,755 downloads. The show remained at the same spot from last month.
[See the November Podcast Ranker here]
Podsights Benchmark Australian Report reveals 54% growth in ad spend
The Q3 Podsights Benchmark Australian Report revealed that Australian campaigns are getting bigger, with ad spend up 54% year on year.
Additionally, ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia recorded 5.4 million listeners in September 2022, resulting in 24.8 million downloads and equating to an average of 4.6 downloads per listener.
The report examined data gathered from October 2021–September 2022. Key findings from the benchmark report and additional analysis showed iHeartPodcast Network’s advertising conversion rates continue to be higher than social and digital channels, including Facebook and Twitter. When breaking down global conversion rates by industry, retail, education and fashion categories experienced the strongest Q3 attribution results.
Additionally, the report revealed 81% of podcast campaigns placed advertising in either the pre or mid-roll spots, with mid-rolls outperforming pre-roll conversion rate by 4%.
Audible teams up with News Corp Australia, Twitch and more for Summer Listens
Audible is heading into summer full-steam ahead with its latest campaign, Summer Listens.
Featuring a curation of audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals, the campaign is brought to life through collaborations with News Corp Australia, Secret Sounds, the return of the Audible Live Club on Twitch, and top Australian content creators.
The campaign evolved from insights demonstrating that:
• Through summer months there is a 19% increase in Australian podcast consumption
• 41% of Australians choose to listen to audio content in the car
• 19% of Australians opt for an audiobook or podcast on a plane or train
Audible’s Summer Listens campaign comprises the following collaborations:
• News Corp Australia, featuring branded editorial across Vogue, GQ and Delicious, and the wider News network; as well as podcast integrations with The Matty Johns Podcast, I Catch Killers, and Something to Talk About with Samantha Armytage.
• Live Nation Australia music fans via sponsorship of the Secret Sounds Harvest Rock Music Festival and promotions of Audible music titles (such as The Storyteller by Dave Grohl, Surrender by Bono and Origins – an Audible Original featuring Billie Eilish and Doja Cat) across Live Nation’s digital properties.
• Twitch – back by popular demand is the return of the multi award-winning Audible Live Club, a fresh spin on a traditional book club. Australian creator Loserfruit (AKA Kathleen Veronica Belsten) will listen to excerpts from The Sandman audiobook while creating Sandman-themed scenes within her favourite game (The Sims) to create deeper engagement with her 2.8m followers.
[Lister to all the Summer Listens here]
