Maz Compton on The Wellness Rebellion
LiSTNR is aiming to challenge health and wellness with its new podcast The Wellness Rebellion with Maz Compton and Dr Sam Hay which aims to uncover the truth behind fas and debunk the trends with science-based wellness information.
Each episode of the weekly podcast will see the pair discuss a different wellness trend with Dr Hay providing listeners with the scientific facts.
The hosts will then further explore the issue with weekly guest experts to deliver easy-to-understand truths to help people make choices to live healthier lives.
Podcast Week‘s Trent Thomas caught up with Compton to discuss her latest foray into podcasting and what listeners can expect from The Wellness Rebellion.
“It has been a long time coming to be honest, so it feels like a mixture of excitement and relief to have the podcast out into the universe,” Compton said.
The idea had been in the works for a while and Compton explained that she took the idea for a wellness podcast to LiSTNR on a whim.
“I thought if I am going to do my own thing, then I really want to align myself with a company that knows how to make excellent podcasts. I pitched it to them, and there was a lot of back and forth about getting the right idea and then eventually The Wellness Rebellion was born as a concept and then it was months and months of recording hours and trying to book guest and putting it all together.
“It is not a long-form podcast, with each episode being only 25 minutes but a lot of effort and love goes into each episode.”
The series has filmed its first 8 episodes and is taking a break before it films the next series in the coming weeks, with plans already underway for series three and four.
“Creatively we came up with ‘The Seven Pillars of Health’ to kind of structure what we were doing because wellness is such a big space and I kind of need to compartmentalise things. The seven pillars of health are these areas where we can just focus on one thing at a time, so in each season we just do one episode on a pillar of health and just try to answer one question.”
Working with Dr Sam Hay
Compton said that her partnership with Dr Hay works well because they come at the topics from different angles.
“I am a curious consumer. I have done every fad diet, I have done every wellness treatment and am always trying to better myself and what I found out is that… most of it is bullshit.
“The reason why it works great with Dr Sam is that he does actually have a degree in medicine, and he has that clinical thinking part of his brain, so I can tell him what I think is real and what might work, and what is a buzz in wellness and he can really come at it from that evidence-based science background and go here are the facts and here is what we know.”
Compton also hosts Hit NSW Breakfast with Gwandy
Approach to wellness
One thing that sets this wellness podcast apart is its embracement of science and its willingness to debunk myths but Compton said that it’s not saying everyone else is wrong.
“There is a lot of loud voices, and everyone has permission to preach their own message, but for me, I feel like everything is so conflicting now because there is so much information that I want to really get back to basics. Our brain is still a primal brain, our bodies haven’t evolved much in the last few thousand years so what are the basics and what do we know that works, lets start there and play in that area.”
[Listen to The Wellness Rebellion here]
2 Lady-Brains series better than 1 at Fashion Week
The Lady-Brains podcast has made history as a media partner of Afterpay Australian Fashion Week by hosting the first-ever podcast at the event, well actually the first two!
Lady-Brains is hosted by co-founders Caitlin Judd and Anna Mackenzie as they chat to female entrepreneurs to tap into their knowledge and insights.
During the first episode, the pair talked to fashion icon Rebecca Vallance on the anniversary of her 10 years in business and talking about her ups, down, triumphs and failures of building the RV brand over the past decade.
This show was live-streamed onto AAFW’s new online streaming platform, and is also available on-demand. You can login and see the platform at australianfashionweek.com
In the second episode, the pair interviewed Dale McCarthy, founder of sustainable and ethical fashion label Bondi Born, and Mary Lou Ryan, co-founder of Bassike, which will go up on the Lady-Brains podcast.
Big Media with Corey Layton
Corey Layton, head of digital audio at ARN, was one of the first guests on Big Media, a new TV series at online news channel Ticker News. The program is hosted by Ticker News CEO and managing editor Ahron Young and Mediaweek editor James Manning.
See also: HT&E chief executive Ciaran Davis on Ticker News
Layton has been guiding the explosive growth of the iHeartPodcast Network brand in Australia in addition to the big business ARN does with its radio programs on demand. In April 2021 the company had a combined 12.28m podcast downloads.
The growth of on demand audio in Australia and elsewhere has been impacted by the spread of Covid 19, Layton, also a Podcast Week regular, told Big Media.
“Covid has fast-tracked podcast growth and in fact all streaming audio including music.
“Listening is continuing to increase as people lean into podcasts. We are seeing a huge growth in listening for both local and international content creators. It is a good time to be in on-demand audio and podcasts.”
ARN’s Corey Layon on Ticker News
Advertising revenue is not growing as fast as on demand audio audiences, but it is climbing.
Layton: “Ad revenue for podcasts is coming from other budgets. People are dipping maybe into digital budgets or even print where advertisers are able to target specific niche audiences. As far as new revenue we are growing rapidly and are looking at double-digit growth year-on-year.
“One of the big attractions about advertising in a podcast is that it a solus ad break environment. Being able to have the host that the listener has built a relationship with deliver that ad in an uncluttered environment is very powerful. There is a premium for that, but it makes sense and gives good bang for your buck.”
How is podcasting not impacting radio audiences? Layton: “There are times of the day where radio is most appropriate for many. For most people that is in the morning where they like information and entertainment in a live and local environment. A lot of people then stream music into the day, while podcasting is something that many people are doing on their commute or during activities like visiting the gym or other exercising.”
Layton also talked to Ticker and Mediaweek about a podcast subscription model and a revenue share deal with podcasters plus how iHeartPodcast Network helps its titles with discovery in a world of 2m+ podcasts.
With regard to how many downloads iHeartPodcast Network would like to see from its new titles, Layton talked about targets. [Spoiler – they’d like at least 50,000 downloads a month. “When an advertiser is trying to drive reach, it does need to be a meaningful amount.”]
Watch the complete Corey Layton interview on Ticker’s Big Media with Mediaweek here.
Podcast Week: DrawHistory announces new podcast Undesign
Podcast Week reports on Undesign, a new weekly podcast by strategy and design consultancy firm DrawHistory which launched this week.
Each episode explores issues, from counterterrorism to sustainable tourism, and reveals insights on how people can redesign a more inclusive society. In its inaugural season, the podcast is hosting guests from organisations such as Change.org, Wikipedia, and the United Nations.
Undesign will deliver eight episodes with leading thinkers and doers from diverse sectors to open up new perspectives and encourage new ways of thinking.
The show will be hosted by DrawHistory’s head of community practice, Kosta Lucas.
“If I’ve learned anything over the course of my career so far it’s that we can’t be experts about all of the world’s problems,” said Korta.
“This is why we created Undesign, a conversation series where we get to untangle the world’s biggest social problems together with some of the brightest and most inspirational people who have devoted their lives to designing better futures for people.”
“My hope for listeners is that you’re able to learn a new name and face to look up if you’re unsure about a particular issue, or that you feel moved to make some small change in your life, knowing it will actually make a difference. If nothing else though, I hope you get to experience some of the same sense of awe and wonder I felt as hosting these conversations.”
Podcast Week: Studio network launches within WOTSO
Castco Media has delivered one of Australia’s first podcast studio networks, launching the network alongside co-working provider WOTSO.
WOTSO has partnered with podcast production company Castco Media to deliver the podcast studios, labelled PodSpot, launching first in Sippy Downs on the Sunshine Coast, with more to follow in Brisbane and Sydney.
“As remote and agile working became the norm during the past year thanks to COVID, we also saw a boom in podcasting with 37 percent of Aussies over the age of 12 now listening to podcasts every month and major players like Spotify investing heavily in the space,” said Dave Matthews, founder and CEO of Castco Media.
Matthews said the PodSpot trial was launching on the Sunshine Coast at WOTSO Sippy Downs and would soon expand to Fortitude Valley in Brisbane and Zetland in Sydney.
See previous Podcast Week columns here.
