A healthy and happy new year to all!
A quick note to say that this week marks seven years since the launch of The Podglomerate.
Seven years ago, it’s safe to say that we were all different people. We had different experiences, ideas, and ambitions (and favorite podcasts). And that’s completely fine! Because change is constant, and change is important. It’s also fun to think that most 7-year-olds in the US are in second grade, so you can say that we’re still pretty early on in our journey.
Thank you to all of our friends, colleagues, partners, and listeners for helping us get here. It’s been a long, crazy experience so far, and we’re just getting started.
What better way to look toward the future than to look back and reflect on 2023 and its “New and Noteworthy” moments:
- We represented more than 90 podcasts in 2023, accounting for more than 240 million downloads (I know, wild), with our shows topping the podcast charts and receiving features on every major podcast distribution app with national coverage across print, digital, radio, and television.
- We welcomed the return of our award-winning original podcast Missing Pages. The second season — which has investigated the history of book bans and featured exclusive interviews with acclaimed authors like Jodi Picoult — has already been heralded as a must-listen by Apple Podcasts, Washington Post, The Guardian, and beyond!
- We launched Podcast Perspectives to help breakdown the most important podcast news and go deep on topics that podcasters need to know today. Since launching in August, we’ve brought on more than 20 industry experts as guests including Audacy’s Head of Podcasting Jenna Weiss-Berman, former host of Reply All Alex Goldman, Lemonada CEO Jessica Cordova Kramer, and more. (Fun Fact: one of our most listened-to episodes was our September panel discussion with Verge writer Amrita Khalid, Reply All alum Alex Goldman, and Pod People CEO Rachael King.
- We were proud to work with some of 2023’s critically-acclaimed podcasts including New Hampshire Public Radio’s Bear Brook (named a “Best True Crime Podcast of 2023” by Spotify and author Stephen King) as well as NHPR’s The 13th Step (named a best podcast of 2023 by 18 publications including The New Yorker, Vulture, and The Atlantic, and named a finalist for the 2024 duPont-Columbia Awards), The Class of 1989 (praised by The Chicago Tribune and nominated for “Best Film & TV Podcast” by the Black Podcasting Awards), KUOW’s Ten Thousand Things (Signal and Golden Crane Award-winning series named one of the “Best Podcasts of 2023” by Mashable), WUNC’s The Broadside (named “New & Noteworthy” by NPR), and PBS Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant (Signal Award-winning series named one of the “Best Outdoors Podcasts” by Outdoors.com), among many, many others.
- We celebrated our clients taking home 20 wins at the second annual Signal Awards, including Freakonomics Radio, PBS Nature’s Going Wild with Rae Wynn-Grant, Stanford Center for Longevity’s Century Lives, The World Surf League’s The Lineup, What the Hack with Adam Levin, WHYY’s The Statue, AFSCME’s I Am Story, NHPR’s Outside/In, KUOW’s Ten Thousand Things, PBS’s American Masters: Creative Spark, and the Emergence Magazine podcast.
- We were interviewed in Hot Pod, Bloomberg, Inside Podcasting and more for our insights on podcast audience growth, production, and monetization. What’s more, we were invited to speak at Podcast Movement, the Public Radio Content Conference, and the PBS Annual Event in 2023.
- We had the honor of representing stellar clients including NPR, Netflix, PBS, Freakonomics Radio, the Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, NPR stations (including LAist Studios, New Hampshire Public Radio, WHYY, KUOW, and WUNC), APT Podcast Studios, AFAR, Tokens Media, WNET, The Progress Network, Stanford’s Center for Longevity, CVS Health, AFSCME, Hoff Studios, Lifetime, The History Channel, A&E, The Solana Foundation, The Tricycle Foundation, The World Surf League, Lit Hub Radio, All Ears English, and many more.
- We grew our team with amazing producers and marketing managers, in addition to celebrating promotions and work anniversaries for our long-standing staff, with no signs of slowing down!
And that’s all thanks to our amazing team, our clients, our collaborators and partners, our listeners, and you.
Thank you for your continued support — over the past 7 years, and for the many years to come. And here’s to even more stories and sonic moments in 2024.
P.S. if your “New Year’s Resolution” is to produce, grow, monetize (or something in between) your podcast and need help to amplify your work, please send us a note at: [email protected].
Best,
Jeff Umbro, Founder and CEO of The Podglomerate
