Thursday14th April: How Gardeners’ World Magazine got 1 million podcast downloads

April 14, 2022

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BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine achieved a major milestone last month when its podcast was downloaded more than 1 million times. Yes, bloody Joe Rogan's gets way more, but the Gardener's World podcast is for normal people interested in oversized marrows not oversized egos.

Like Joe Rogan, the success of the Gardener's World podcast is linked to the pandemic. But rather than rely on Covidiot commentary, it's ridden the wave of lockdown gardening, with the most popular episodes focusing on health and wellbeing, sustainability, wildlife and homegrown food.

Esther - quoted in this piece - says, "Having watched Immediate Media’s podcast strategy evolve and mature, I’m not surprised the team has managed to reach this milestone in such a short amount of time." She reckons it's all about strong brands and a well-oiled production team and she's usually right.

The Washington Post’s new London hub editor has told Press Gazette how the title plans to grow its global subscriber base by building out a 24-hour global news operation. And Sara Sorcher has taken to Twitter to begin recruiting 'multi-talented editors and reporters' to join her in covering world news. About 10% of the WaPo's subs are currently non-US.

Incisive Media is to be sold in two parts to companies owned by American private equity firm Eagletree Capital. Arc has bought Incisive’s financial services and business sustainability brands; the Channel Company will buy its technology brands. According to Flashes and Flames, the deal is said to be worth £40 to $45 million - not bad for a business bought for £5,000 five years ago.

MSN says, contrary to popular belief, young people are not turning away from the news. But they do want it their way. "Gen Z are up-and-coming news subscribers, and news outlets must be prepared to up their game to attract and keep them as loyal readers," says Rebecca Frank, News Media Alliance VP for research and insights. "It's not just about the news; it has to be the whole package."

This week's episode:

The winner of the Best Hobbies & Special Interest Podcast at 2021’s Publisher Podcast Awards was The Week in Art from The Art Newspaper. Peter spoke to Ben Luke, podcast host and review editor at The Art Newspaper. He talked about how the podcast and its format came about, why they chose a single sponsor per season revenue model, and what value The Week in Art brings to the publisher’s wider audience.

Building audience engagement with email is high on every publisher’s agenda. But building revenue with email doesn’t get nearly the same attention. In this special Conversations episode, I'm joined by Passendo’s Andreas Jürgensen, Anders Rantzau Rasmussen, and Access Intelligence’s Michael Ring to discuss how publishers are growing their bottom line by optimising and automating in-email ad serving.