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So you want to start a podcast?

These are the questions you need to ask

Author

Joel Leeman
August 06, 2024

Welcome to Spark, a weekly newsletter from Vivace Content. We curate and distill the best thinking and ideas from our community — on themes spanning the business, financial, and cultural landscape. Send tips, pitches, and feedback to [email protected].

By now, you likely know that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for this historic election.

The governor lives just two miles away from me here in Saint Paul, albeit in a much grander home, and I have been excited to watch his meteoric rise in the national media and social ecosystem over the past few weeks.

There will be many profiles and interviews of Governor Walz in the coming days (Hot Ones first, please), but if you’re looking for something of substance to dig into, I highly recommend his recent podcast interview with Ezra Klein.

Podcasts are on my mind for all kinds of reasons, which is why we decided to dedicate today’s column to them in full. Careful readers will note this is an update of a post I wrote nearly a year ago in my LinkedIn newsletter. And while a lot can change in 12 months, some things haven’t changed at all. Podcasts are as popular as ever with audiences and brands alike, but the balance between brand and storytelling remains difficult to navigate, and competition for engagement is fierce.

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time and energy thinking and learning about the ins and outs of starting and running a podcast. Though it might feel like we’ve hit peak podcast, they can still be an effective way to tell your story with the right framing. Here’s what I’ve learned…

-joel

I have been obsessed with podcasts for the better part of the past decade. My love of the medium, as it does for so many, goes all the way back to Serial, and my close attention to the space writ large goes back to when Nicholas Quah (now the podcast critic at Vulture) started his influential newsletter Hot Pod.

Over the years I’ve had many ideas and aspirations to start my own podcast or at least work on a show, even applying for radio jobs here and there, but the spark to actually get going didn’t really come. Luckily, as I progressed in my content marketing roles at companies like Refinitiv and LSEG, I got to learn loads and get practical experience producing and launching podcasts and video series, eventually leading a small team of producers and strategists and partnering with some wonderful audio experts along the way.

Last year I finally started my own: Connection Request. So far we’ve released two seasons across which I had the opportunity to interview business executives, journalists, entrepreneurs, artists and a local state senator about why they do what they do, their journey, and what they’ve learned along the way. In the upcoming Season 3 we’ll be bringing Connection Request under the Vivace umbrella and evolving the show to be more decidedly about creative entrepreneurship, big ideas, current affairs, and the future of work.

These 13 pod-starter questions are the result of years of podcast producing for other brands, as well as launching and producing two seasons of my own podcast last year. They’re a great starting point for anyone embarking on a podcasting journey, or deciding whether to invest in one.

 🎤 The pod-starter questionnaire

  1. Who is your audience?

  2. Will your show be more evergreen or ephemeral?

  3. What are some reference points for podcasts or shows that you want to borrow from?

  4. Conversely, what about your show will be different from others out there? What makes yours unique and special?

  5. How much of yourself or your brand do you want to be the star (as opposed to a guest, perhaps)?

  6. Do you have the time, resources, passion and energy to commit to this for an extended period of time?

  7. How do you plan to distribute and market the show and build your community over the long term?

  8. Will your show be narrative and story-driven, interview-based, conversational with another host, full of segments? What feels right for the story or message you have to tell?

  9. What are your goals for the show, and how will you measure success?

  10. How will you solicit feedback, and how will you handle criticism?

  11. If only a handful of people listen to the first few episodes, what will your reaction be?

  12. How do you want people to feel after listening to your show?

🎥 Bonus #13: To video or not to video?

Deputy Technical Director at the New York Times, Corey Schreppel, shared his take about whether video needs to be a part of your pod production:

📈 Off the charts

📊 The Podex

As of June 2024 unless otherwise stated:

4,198,326 total podcasts registered around the world (podcastindex.org)

95,387,932 episodes published on Apple Podcasts (thepodcasthost.com)

17.2% of the podcasts on Apple Podcasts are currently active – meaning they’ve released a new episode in the past 90 days (thepodcasthost.com)

100 million US Americans age 12 and older now listen to podcasts every week, or 34% of the population (Edison Research)

22.8% of the UK population are weekly podcast listeners, representing more than double growth over the past 5 years (RAJAR, 2023)

25-34 year old men make up the core audience of US podcasting, spending 16% of all of their audio time with podcasts (Edison Research)

💬 Podspiration

We asked the Vivace & Friends community what they’re listening to and loving in the podscape right now:

There’s a lot more where these came from – see the full list of responses on LinkedIn here.

📣 Connection Request Season 3 coming soon!

Thanks for joining us this week. Anything we missed? Something we should include next week? Please send all ideas and feedback to [email protected]. 

Spark is a production of Vivace Content, where we help our clients navigate what to say and how to say it every single day. Get in touch if you’d like to have a no-hassle consultation about how we can help you too. Have a great week ahead, and see you next Monday.