I’m a Celebrity. (Get me A Podcast)

The Celebrity led podcast is here to stay. In fact this genre will explode.

Some talent agencies are already building their own in-house podcast production teams and facilities.

Why wouldn’t someone with a massive following on Insta and TikTok invite those fans to, well, follow them to their podcast app of choice?

After all it’s a chance for those fans to consume more (potentially) highly engaging content from someone they already love… or love to hate.

Either way: Win, Win. No?

Well, the caution here is that there’s the potential for this to become a merry go round of the same faces appearing on each other’s podcasts, having the same conversations, about the same things. You listen to one and you’ve heard them all.

There needs to be a repeatable format angle beyond just “chatting with my celeb mates”.

So what will be exciting is how the celebrity format evolves to ensure one celebrity podcast can be differentiated from the rest. Watch out for the grenade.

Spoiler alert: I think this could - and should - be a brand shaped grenade. A brand’s product or service could brilliantly provide the inspiration for the twist in the celebrity tale that helps it explode. In a good way.

Hollywood

The feature length podcast, or audio “movie” is on the rise.

The likes of Shipworm and Ghostwriter are early entries in what I think will become a much bigger category in 2022.

Will they be challengers to the Netflix slate? Not this year.

One of the biggest hurdles to that is not necessarily the quality of the content itself, but in shifting listening habits. We currently make time in our lives for an average 20-40 minute podcast that we listen to on our walk, commute or whilst we are cooking. If we have a full 90 minutes or more of precious time, will we choose to use that listening to a podcast … or watching a screen?

That shift will definitely take time. But as formats and production techniques are tested and refined, the longer listen will continue to draw bigger and bigger Talent to the table. Which will mean bigger budgets, better scripting, sensational sound and a truly indulgent immersive experience that might well give TV a run for its money in years to come.

Friends

The companion podcast also has lots of ground still to win.

Similarly to the Celebrity led podcast, here’s an opportunity to grow a community around something that already has audience traction.

In this case it happens to be TV series. Like The Crown. Or a film, like The House of Gucci or the latest Bond.

Here’s an existing community of fans of either the content or cast, hungry for anything that extends their experience of, and deepens their relationship with, “their” show.

In fact some of the most successful companion podcasts are created by the fans themselves.

Often because an “official” version doesn’t exist.

It’s a missed opportunity, in my humble opinion, for producers not to create something themselves that exploits their unique behind the scenes and Talent access. And then it would be another missed opportunity not to collaborate with those fans to help make it brilliant, either through editorial contribution, or promotion, or both. It’ll help keep the focus on the target audience, and stop your valued companion turning into that evangelical friend who just wants to advertise their latest obsession at you.

Friends (with benefits)

A twist on the companion podcast.

Instead of being tied to a TV show or film, these are all about YOU.

Companions to your hobbies or friends that help you learn something.

Podcasts that overtly engage with however you want to improve yourself, or whatever you are doing at the precise time.

To help you use that time better, or be better at something specific.

There’s already content being created using this model. The NHS were very early adopters with their Couch to 5k plan. But the possibilities are endless – as are the opportunities for brands. It’s about thinking hard about the context in which your audience might feel they’ve genuinely benefited from listening. And that might just mean a podcast that’s only two minutes long, but is an innovative way to get kids to enjoy and engage with their daily tooth brushing sessions – whilst they are actually brushing their teeth. (That’s one of ours, by the way. In case you were wondering.)

On demand audio designed to meet the demands of our daily lives, habits, hobbies or interests – especially at the same time as we are doing them - is a clever way to use audio. And I anticipate lots of cleverness to come.

Frankenstein

Cross Pollination. This is another grower. (Sorry, couldn’t help it.)

Hybrid formats are rich for further exploitation. And can have some brilliantly entertaining – and definitely distinctive - results.

The BBC have already mixed drama with investigative journalism in The Battersea Poltergeist to huge success.

So what would happen if you crossed a game show format with the true crime genre?

Or a fitness focused show with a fashion forward one?

I’m sure you can already see the opportunity for brands here …

In fact some of the brilliant brands we already work with have pulled this off with aplomb, like mixing botany and true crime, and true crime with investigative journalism.

After Life

So this one is less about podcasts themselves, and more about the extended life of the content beyond them.

Podcasts are an opportunity to create a buzz about and a community around almost anything.

And once that buzz is created, your content can take on a life of it’s own beyond the podcast proper.

My final prediction is about the rise of the extended experience, and the life of the content beyond the podcast itself.

There’ll be more festivals, books, sell out theatre sessions, Live Listen Alongs on platforms like Twitter Spaces, and film deals to chase. The podcast series is the stone cast in the pond. The resulting ripples can be very lucrative.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting that every podcast has this potential. But I will place bets on many more being commissioned and released this year, with a view to this as the end game. And it’s a long game.

Happily Ever After?

And there you have it.

My parting shot is to emphasise that whatever the format, however riotously disruptive or quietly revolutionary the content: it’s the storytelling that’s key. Crafted storytelling that harnesses the unique intimacy of listening on headphones, inviting the listener in and helping them to lose themselves in whatever tale you have to tell. Storytelling that creates theatre of the mind.

In other words, at the end of the day it needs to be a bloody good listen to have a fighting chance in the content war to come.

And I can’t wait to see what the spoils of that war brings to the ultimate beneficiary: The Listener.