What are commissioners looking for when it comes to audio content? Podcasts are now a saturated market, making it more difficult than ever to breakthrough into the industry. In a recent event hosted by We Are Black Journos, News UK, and the Black Audio Network, which was dedicated to amplifying Black voices in media, journalism, and audio, speakers Leanne Allie, head of podcasts at Unlocked Podcasts, Roshan Roberts, executive producer at Audible, Tammi Walker, commissioning executive at the BBC, and Luke Henry, audio producer at talkSPORT, discussed what journalists can do to stand out and how the industry is changing.

Originality and being the trusted voice

Content and ideas that are fresh and original are always going to stand out. It’s something that is particularly important to Tammi Walker, especially when she is commissioning work from black journalists:

‘I think originality cannot be underestimated. The minute I see an idea from a person of colour, I can pretty much guess what’s coming next. I don’t want to hear the same thing again and again. There is more that we can talk about.’

Leanne Allie agreed and felt that identity shouldn’t be the main focus of content being pitched. She suggested ‘using your identity as a lens to talk about a topic you are discussing, but just as a lens, not the whole topic, because we’ve had so much of that already’. 

Tammi advised ‘Building on the case of why you are the trusted voice on that particular subject’.

Finding the right frequency and format

The success of a podcast very often depends on getting the right format, whether it be solo or co-hosts. Leanne shared the opinion that not everybody can pull off a podcast solo and having a co-host can have its benefits:

‘If you’re doing a solo podcast and you’re doing interviews, then you’re relying on guests every single week. People are coming in for the guest first and foremost, rather than yourself. If you have a couple of hosts then people start to tune in for that chemistry and camaraderie, because they feel like they get to know you as a group.’

It’s also important to consider frequency and length of a podcast. Tammi said ‘Your podcast does not have to be an hour. You need to think about the audience and how they listen to something’. 

The other issue that Leanne highlighted is that most people will already have set podcasts they listen to on a daily or weekly basis. But don’t be disheartened – Luke Henry stressed that people ‘think too much about the idea of a podcast, and forget what the podcast is about,’ so it’s important not to lose sight of this.

Building a community and thinking about engagement

Community has been key to the way local news outlets are evolving and it’s something podcasters should be looking at, too. Tammi said that ‘building your community helps to give you control and you can then build yourself into a subscription model,’ something that Leanne is a big advocate of:

‘Something that has changed the whole way I look at creating podcasts now is subscriber based content. So alongside your main podcast, what is the paid version? Because if you make a proposition that is strong enough, people can pay for your content. In reality, you only need a small percentage of paid subscribers to generate revenue, which is probably more revenue than you’re going to get from ad support.’

Currently, celebrities and big names will still generate more numbers and therefore more profit. However, for Roshan Roberts, it’s not just about having a huge following, but also the engagement:

‘You need to look at what words are associated with these big names. If I want to do a podcast around Stormzy and mental health, but no one’s ever searched Stormzy and mental health, that might not be something I want to go to. Someone like Konan talks about mental health more and that’s going to have a higher search rating. That’s something to consider’.