REUTERS PODCAST REPORT: NEWS PODCASTS AND THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLISHERS Presentation of the findings and conclusion of the Reuters Podcast Report, the most comprehensive study to-date on the growth of news podcasts, exploring their prevalence worldwide, what they are offering to audiences and how publishers and platforms stand to benefit. Presented by Nathan Gallo, Research Assistant at Reuters Institute at at European Radio and Digital Audio Show 2020

1. Nathan Gallo, Research assistant.
A report co-authored with Nic Newman, Senior
Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for
the Study of Journalism
@risj_oxford
News Podcasting :
Opportunities for
Publishers

2. Number of podcasts growing at exponential rate
There are 771,000 different podcasts in the Apple catalogue – but that’s growing at a rate of
about 200,000 a year.
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
(thru
10/28)

3. News podcasts punch above their weight
News podcasts make up just 6% of production but around a fifth of the top episodes in the US
Apple Podcast charts (top 250). News podcasts grew by 32% last year
% of podcasts produced
News Other genres
% of top episodes (US)
News Other genres
6% 21%
Source: Chartable, for the Reuters Institute

4. News podcasting – focus of this research
4
1. What types of news podcasts are being produced?
2. How big is the daily news podcast category. What’s working?
3. What are wider publisher content and monetisation strategies?
4. How are tech platforms, advertisers, others getting involved?

5. Methodology
5
Coded top 200 podcasts in Apple’s news and politics category in five
countries (UK, US, Australia, France, Sweden) to identify a
categorization of news podcasts
Deep dive into daily news podcasts using aggregated and proprietary
data plus interviews …
• Most consumed daily news podcasts in each country
• Listening patterns (length of listen, proportion listened to in first day
etc)
Strategic interviews with 30 publishers (W Post, News York Times,
BBC, Radio France, Dagens Nyheter etc), platforms (Spotify, Acast,
Google), others (experts)

6. @risj_oxford
Categorising
podcasts

7. 7
Definitions
Term Definition Examples
Podcast A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files,
which you can download, subscribe or listen to via a
range of technologies (RSS feed, podcasting apps,
websites, etc.)
771,000 examples catalogued
by Apple
- Native Podcast An audio programme produced and designed as an on-
demand online program / show, without being bound
to the radio or TV broadcasting schedule.
The Daily (New York Times),
The Teachers Pet (The
Australian), P3 Dystopia
(Swedish Radio)
- Catch up Radio A time shifted on-demand programme formerly
broadcast on radio (or even TV)
Morning Edition (NPR), AM
(ABC), In Our Time (BBC), Le
Téléphone Sonne (France Inter)

8. % of top 200 podcasts that are native vs catch up
84%
16%
USA
Native podcast Catch-up radio
84%
16%
UK
77%
23%
32%
68%69%
31%
AUSTRALIA FRANCESWEDEN
Content that is produced ‘natively’ for an on-demand context tend to be more
popular in all countries except France

9. News categorisation

10. 10
Different types of podcasts
Type Description Examples
Daily News/current
affairs
a) a NATIVE and DAILY podcast focusing on NEWS
AND CURRENT AFFAIRS or
b) a daily radio (or TV) show repackaged as podcast
Post Reports (Washington Post), La
Story (Les Echos), Ekot (Sveriges
Radio)
Talk/Interview
unscripted
A TALK / DEBATE / CONVERSATION show. Can be
native or catch-up.
Political Gabfest (Slate), The Nigel
Farage Show (LBC), The Professor and
The Hack (10 Speaks)
Narrative series - single
topic
NATIVE podcast with a SEASONAL / IRREGULAR
frequency. A podcast in series focused on one story
/ investigation / true crime narrative.
Serial, The Assassination (BBC), The
Teacher’s Pet (The Australian),
Injustices (Louie Média)
Other documentary –
many topics
DOCUMENTARY strand released at a REGULAR
frequency (weekly, monthly, etc. ). It reports on a
wide range of topics.
P3 Dystopia (SR), Code Switch (NPR),
Slow Burn (Slate), Une lettre
d'Amérique (RTL)
Audio long read NATIVE podcast. A READ OF NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE
FEATURE.
Guardian Long Read (Guardian)
Les éditos de la rédaction (Les Echos)

11. Talk shows and episodic series are the top types for news

12. 12
Different producers
Type Description Examples
Broadcaster From a TV or radio background. High level of radio
shows reversioned as podcasts. Some are
commissioning native podcasts
NPR, BBC, ABC, SR, Radio
France
Print / Digital Media From EITHER a newspaper/magazine background
OR a digital born publication
Washington Post, The
Guardian, Le Parisien, Slate,
Vox
Podcasting company A studio producing original programmes designed to
be podcast
Gimlet Media, District
Productive, Louie Média, 10
Speaks
Independent An individual or a group of individuals producing
one single podcast show. Often self-funded or via
donation platforms like Patreon.
The Bellingcat Podcast,
Reasons to be Cheerful with
Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd
Other A range of diverse actors, from Universities to
Institutes to political parties.
Reuters Institute

13. 35%
28%
19%
14%
4%
47%
33%
0%
12%
8%
52%
29%
9%
4% 6%
80%
9% 7%
2% 2%
49%
18%
4%
17%
12%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Broadcaster Print/Digital born Podcast production
company
Individual/Independent Other
US UK Australia France Sweden
Top producers of domestic news podcasts by country
Number of podcasts produced by each producer in top 200, Apple News and Politics, 16 July 2019

14. RISJ Digital News Report 2017 14
Native podcasts: what editorial strategies

15. 15
Different production focus for print and broadcasters
Print and digital born reusing newsroom
talent
(Times of London/Vox Media )
Broadcasters reusing audio production
and documentary skills
(BBC/ABC News)

16. 16
Independent production on the rise ….
Genre: Chat Genre: InvestigationGenre: True Crime series Genre: True Crime series
Some of these are focused on domestic market but increasingly looking for international audiences
too
Dr Death released simultaneously across the world, translated into 7 languages, being turned into
TV series

17. Daily News Podcast

18. 18
The Gist Ozy Briefly
Five Things
The Daily
Up First (NPR)
The Signal (ABC)
NPR News Now
Omni Pod
Today in Focus
Code Source / La Story
The Journal
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2014
Q2
Q3 Q4 2015
Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4 2016
Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4 2017
Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4 2018
Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4 2019
Q1
Q2 Q3 Q4
Numberofpodcasts
Year quarters
The Leader
The evolution of daily news podcasts 2014-19
The Intelligence

19. 19
Main daily news podcasts
UNITED STATES UNITED KINGDOM AUSTRALIA
FRANCE
La Story - Les Echos
Code Source – le Parisien
Programme B – Binge Audio
The Daily- New York Times
Up First – NPR
Today Explained – Vox
*News Now - NPR
Post Reports – Washington `Post
Start Here – ABC News
Skimm This – The Skimm
What Next - Slate
The Journal – Wall Street Journal
*Ekot – Swedish Radio
Omni Pod – Schibsted
Aftonbladet Daily- Schibsted
Di Morgonkoll - Dagens Industri
Today in Focus - Guardian
Beyond Today - BBC
The Intelligence – Economist
FT News Briefing
The Leader – Evening Standard
SWEDEN
The Signal – ABC News
7am – Schwartz Media
The Quicky – Mamamia
Squiz today - Squiz
* These are not strictly native as they are radio bulletins updated many times a day. They are included
because they have been adapted and branded for on demand – and made available as podcasts

20. 20
Daily news podcasts: length by category
“It is not a schedule telling you. You can choose
what you want when you want it”
Average length calculated from the last 15 episodes from September 2019
Source: Reuters Institute analysis

21. Can you make money from daily news podcasts?
‘There has been so much demand for sponsorship that it more
than pays for itself’
Tom Standage, The Economist (The Intelligence)
‘We are doing probably the best Danish podcast out there but
none of the traditional advertisers have really been
interested’
Troels Behrendt Jørgensen, Politiken
But small markets may be different …

22. RISJ Digital News Report 2017 22

23. Other motivations for daily news podcasts
‘We are thrilled to have 25 minutes a day with people that we didn't have before. We
really think of The Daily as the new Front Page.’
Erik Borenstein, The New York Times
2. Attracting younger audiences
‘We would be foolish if we weren't pushing aggressively into the on demand space.
The audience is about 20 years younger than the broadcast audience.’
Chris Turpin, National Public Radio (NPR)
1. Loyalty and building habit

24. RISJ Digital News Report 2017 24
Les Echos: listening podcasts on the app

25. Platforms and other
intermediaries

26. Apple is still biggest gateway, Spotify now no 2
Apple
Podcasts
(57.9%)
Source: Libsyn September 2019
Spotify has doubled market share in the last year, other platforms entering the market …

27. 27
Spotify commissioning ’originals’, improving discovery

28. 28
Paid for apps looking to be ‘Netflix of Podcasting’

29. 29
Broadcasters also looking to control the experience
“We have an existential issue with a
unlevel playing field on third and
dominant third-party platforms that are
seeking to preference and push their
own services”
Kieran Clifton, Director of Distribution and
Business Development, BBC
BBC Sounds, ABC Listen, SR Play, NPR One, Radio France apps ….

30. Takeaways
 Podcasting moving out of cottage industry phase into a more ‘professionalised’ state:
New money, more competition, a growing audience demand
 News and politics is a major driver of usage
 Podcasts: an increasingly important revenue line profitable in their own right but with
added benefits of generating loyalty/habit and attracting younger audiences
 Outside the US: smaller audiences and less revenue
 Platforms are moving in. This will grow audience beyond ‘latte drinking’
demographics but dangers for publishers in terms of discovery and direct links with
audience.

31. nic.newman@gmail.com
Full report at Reuters Institute
website
Your
questions…
Moreinformation:
nathan.gallo@hotmail.com
@gllzn
@risj_oxford | #DNR19

32. % of top 200 podcasts that are domestic vs foreign
93%
7%
USA
Domestic produced Foreign produced
57%
43%
UK
42%
58%
87%
13%
60%
40%
AUSTRALIA FRANCESWEDEN
Seven programmes features in the top 200 in all five countries including ‘The Daily’,
‘Can he do that?’ (W Post) and the ‘Global News podcast’ from the BBC

33. How many people does it take to do a daily
podcast?
• New York Times - 15
• The Economist - 8
• The Guardian - 8
• Schwartz Media, Le Parisien, Les Echos– 4 to 5
Typical team make up
• Host(s)
• Executive producer
• Producer(s)
• Sound engineer/sound designer Michael Barbaro, The Daily