Compiled by Trent Thomas and Tess Connery
LiSTNR and Justin Hill makes streaming easier with The Streaming Service
LiSTNR has announced the launch of The Streaming Service, a podcast dedicated to the when, where, and why of video on demand, hosted by Justin Hill.
Each week, Hill will provide listeners with everything that they need to know to be across the world of streaming services. Hill will cover a range of platforms including Netflix, Binge, Stan, Disney +, Paramount Plus, Apple TV and HayU.
A celebrity reporter, Hill recently hosted Stan Original’s RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under: The Podcast, and the Hit Network and Sydney Gar & Lesbian Mardi Gras Official Podcast. On The Streaming Service, Hill will also chat with some of the biggest names in Australian entertainment about what they are watching.
Podcast Week‘s Trent Thomas caught up with Hill to talk about a project that he described as the most natural thing that he has ever made.
“It feels like something that I’ve wanted to do for years. We started to talk about it at the end of last year and I could not believe that there wasn’t already something like this out there. I’m having these conversations with people about what we’re watching and giving our endorsements on a daily basis, I thought surely there must be something like this out there, but there’s not. I was very happy that mine is the first one of its kind in Australia.”
Hill said that this podcast is relevant to listeners because it is about a service that is part of a majority of people’s lives.
“There is a statistic that I think says that the average Australian household has four streaming services in their homes. Surely they must be all having the same conversation that I’m having which is what do I watch? Even though I’ve got four, what the hell am I going to watch? And is it any good? And Is it worth my time?”
The show is a short-form series with episodes planned to be under 10 minutes, Hill said that this caters to contemporary listeners in today’s media industry.
“None of us has got time to listen to massively long podcasts, we need something that’s short and snappy that we can listen to while we’re making dinner, or while we’re on our way home. We’re all so conscious of how we apply our time to things now. It has more value after being in lockdown for such a long time. If we are going to watch something we want it to be worth our time.”
When asked if he will approach all streaming services equally, Hill said that he will focus on the shows, not the platforms.
“I treat them based on the show as opposed to the actual streaming service. The information for the listener is where they can watch it and when they can watch it. I’m always like, yeah, great, I love that you talk about that show but when the hell does the new episodes drop.”
Hill said that at the risk of sounding old, this new podcast will bring together 15 years of work and experience in the industry.
“The first episode has a chat with Chris Hemsworth about his movie and it’s just so great to not only to be able to sit down and go, I’ve seen this movie, this is why I love it and this is why I think you’ll love it. But also being connected to red carpets and celebrities so intimately that I can bring word from the actual stars as well as opposed to people just sitting down listening to my voice for you for under 10 minutes.”
[Listen to The Streaming Service here]
Hamish & Andy’s Remembering Project returns for its third season
Fan favourite, Hamish & Andy’s Remembering Project sees the pair delve back through more than 2,500 shows and 26,000 segments across their 20+ year radio career to take listeners back through some of the funniest moments in Aussie radio.
Segments include when Kevin Rudd lost the election the day after taking his shoes off on The Happy Hour, the day they uncovered Australia’s Best Bloke, as well as their chats with some of the biggest names from around the globe including Rhianna who they exposed for stealing Hamish’s song.
[Listen to Hamish & Andy’s Remembering Project here]
Triton Digital releases Podcast Ranker for May 2022
Triton Digital‘s Australian Podcast Ranker has been released for May, giving insight into the Top 100 Podcasts as well as the Top 10 Publishers in Australia.
The survey period was from 1 May through 31 May, 2022, as measured by Triton’s Podcast Metrics measurement service.
This month, the top three publishers were ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia, LiSTNR (SCA), and Audioboom.
Holding the top spot was Hamish & Andy, and Casefile stays strong in second. Entering the top three was Nine’s Liar, Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions which first debuted on the Top 100 Ranker in April.
Delving into one of the most captivating crimes of the century, the nine-part series charts how a seemingly successful financial planner, from Sydney’s eastern suburbs, turned out to be a sociopathic con artist, who stole more than $23 million from mainly family and friends who thought their funds were being invested in shares.
Within hours of her home being raided by ASIC in November 2020 amid questions over an unlicensed financial services business, she disappeared.
The biggest riser overall was The Chaser Report, which lifted 46 places to #56. This comes after the news that The Chaser Report podcast will be adopting a live format, recorded in front of an audience at the Harold Park Hotel, Glebe in Sydney’s inner west.
See More: Podcast Ranker May 2022: Melissa Caddick enters the top three
LiSTNR launches Pride Month collection
June is Pride Month, and to mark the occasion LiSTNR has compiled a playlist of some of its most popular LGBTIQ+ episodes.
The playlist includes episodes from Come Out Wherever You Are with Sean Szeps, The 90s with Dannii Minogue, and Birth, Baby & Beyond with Midwife Cath.
Guests sharing their experiences throughout the playlist include podcaster and broadcaster Josh Szeps, VFLW player Natasha Hardy and her wife Natalie East, MasterChef fan favourite Khanh Ong, and Survivor’s Sophie Cachia.
Nine finds that young people turn to podcasts for financial info
As the cost of living crisis deepens amid rising interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook, only 14% of Australians under the age of 40 feel “extremely confident” about their financial skills, new research by Nine and The Lab has revealed.
However, for younger consumers, podcasts have come forward as an outlet to find information on everything from setting a budget to investing in crypto.
Just like other aspects of their lives, younger investors are consuming information from non-traditional sources, including podcasts and social media, with 28% of 18-39s following a “finfluencer”. Podcasts are fast becoming a powerful tool for brands, with 72% listening to business and money podcasting.
“The most effective finfluencers have built their following by breaking down complex financial matters and making people feel more in control of their money,” according to Toby Boon, director of strategy & insights, Powered by Nine. “Brands can borrow their tactics to simplify personal finance and make investment more accessible. Podcasts, newsletters and social channels all lend themselves to that approach.”
See More: Nine research shows young Australians are finding new ways to invest
Audible announces Bloodguilt, an original podcast from journalists Dan Box & Kate Wild
Bloodguilt: The Many Deaths of Richard Dorrough is the new Audible Original true crime podcast by InFilms (Bowraville, Hitting Home). It is set for release on Tuesday, June 28.
Presented by Walkley Award-winning journalists Dan Box (Bowraville, The Queen & Zak Grieve) and Kate Wild (Four Corners, The Chaser’s War on Everything, Revelation), Bloodguilt tells the story of ex-navy sailor Richard Dorrough, and seeks to answer a series of questions following his suicide at a public gun range in Perth, WA in 2014.
Days after his death, his fiancée received a parcel from him in the post. It contained a note from Dorrough that said,“I did kill three times”, but there are no names, no dates, nothing to identify his victims, despite Dorrough previously being investigated regarding the 1997 disappearance of 21 year old Kimberley woman, Sara-Lee Davey, who went missing after going to the Broome Wharf with Dorrough. He was also later charged with the 1998 murder of 29 year old Sydney woman, Rachael Campbell, but was acquitted at trial in 2010.
Although suicides are rarely reported, Box and Wild believed this unnerving public death was worthy of further explanation. They are troubled by the way no one seems to be trying to find these people, and sensing the really important questions are not necessarily why Dorrough took his own life, but rather, how he got away with killing three people, and why police did not stop him.
As doors slammed and others open unexpectedly, the pair start to question what they’re doing – what are their motives for telling this story? Can a true crime story be told in a way that pays respect to the living and the dead? Will it do more harm than good? They both start to look differently at the crimes they are investigating, putting the podcast itself under interrogation.
