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Content reigns. And it’s not so much the written word that people are devouring, but podcasts. About 30% of Americans listen to podcasts each week. It’s revolutionizing how people spend their time.
It’s not surprising that Amazon, Spotify and YouTube are making some strategic Podcast moves. Or that Conan O’Brien signed a $150 million podcast deal with SiriusXM. O’Brien’s Team Coco has become a podcasting force, bringing in 180 million downloads a year.
David Wolf, founder of Audivita Studios, an audiobook, video and podcast production company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is also navigating these new waters. “We’re dancing with a dynamic, evolving, challenging market and it seems we’re very much in step with it,” he says. Come 2024, podcasts will make up 34.2% of US digital audio services ad spending at $2.56 billion.
“It all starts with audience development,” says Wolf, whose previous company, Crywolf Productions, Inc. (1985–1999) and its recording studios provided music, sound design and production services for advertising and studios like Amblin, Discovery Channel, NBC Universal, and Disney, along other well-known brands.
Many startup podcasters are anxious to monetize their content with advertising.
“No advertiser is going to pay you for zero audience,” says Wolf. “There are 5 million podcast series out there and 63 million separate episodes out there. But only half of them have been listened to 26 times. 2% are killing it, while the rest of the podcasts aren’t. We are looking at how our podcasters can solve that problem.”
The key is creating programs that meet the demand of the diverse podcast audience as podcasts help advertisers reach an even broader consumer audience. Podcast ad spending is slated to surpass $2 billion in 2023 and $5 billion by 2026.
Arguably, any entity can have a podcast. From DIY on Anchor to working with a company like Audivita that is full service, helping create the series. Today, Audivita has 50 podcast series in production on their network, spanning genres such as real estate, leadership, cloud computing, virtual CFO’s, macular degeneration, mental health and more.
“Our current network of shows is designed to move the needle on whatever our client’s backend business is and help them grow that business with the content they produce with us,” says Wolf.
But what makes a podcast a hit is original content tapped into the cultural zeitgeist. And Wolf’s “Audivita Originals” plans to do just that.
“In addition to producing podcasts that are designed to grow a business, Audivita Originals are entertainment podcasts, a very different animal, and an exciting place to be growing,” says Wolf. “We are co-developing from the ground up, with a plan to build a sizable audience,” he says. “Due to the caliber of talent and the popularity of the subject matter, it seems achievable.” The Audivita Originals podcasts currently in production are “Evolutions Per Minute,” an engaging deep dive into the influence of hip hop on jazz and vice versa and “Stories in the Room,” conversations with the players who contributed to Michael Jackson’s
Thriller album.
“To promote the Originals podcasts we’ll create a plethora of video clips that will be extracted from the episodes to promote each series on multiple social media channels, all moving toward creating partnerships and sponsorships to support production and drive revenue,” says Wolf. “At a certain point, when you get between 6,000 to 10,000 streams per episode, then you can step into a zone where you can bring in some sponsorships and start charging for the exposure.”
“We’re a virtual company so our below the line expenses is purely soft,” says Wolf. The Audivita team is composed of producers and audio editors with extensive experience producing audio for film, television and multimedia. Shaun Hettinger heads the podcast production team of Audivita. He brings years of experience composing music and creating audio for film, TV and multimedia, all of which informs how he designs the listener experience. When he’s not producing podcasts for Audivita, he composes TV and film scores for clients like Amazon, YouTube, MTV, Gatorade, Revlon, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, The Hallmark Channel, and others. Shaun recently composed the theme song for Netflix’s first ever nightly talk show: Chelsea Handler’s “Chelsea.”
“The production platforms we use are very light, which makes us nimble as a company and frees the cash up to explore and do other things,” says Wolf.
Wolf also sees the growth potential in audiobooks. “Since 2015, the audiobook market has been growing at a rate of 25% to 28%,” he says. “About 80,000 audio books were produced in 2021.”
With one in eight books being an audiobook, Audivita produces hundreds of audiobook titles a year offering remote, virtual recordings of authors narrating their books (typically nonfiction) and also casting professional voice actors (typically fiction titles). Mark Shipman heads Audivita’s Audiobook division. With forty years experience as a recording engineer and producer and more than three decades in marketing and business leadership, Mark has expertise to add to the production process. Whether you need a performance coach for author narration, or a professional narrator, Audivita offers it all.
Many authors are asking why they should consider producing an audiobook version of their title. “We tell our authors and publishers that we’re unlocking a new audience that doesn’t feel they have the time to sit and read. Whether it’s time scarcity, energy scarcity or they just don’t process information that way. These are people who would rather be listening while walking the dog or doing errands.”
Much of Audivita’s audiobook production business comes from partnering with publishers or publishing service providers that either recommend them or use their services as part of the publishers’ brand. In this case, the publisher will hand their author off to Audivita for the recording, editing, casting, or recording of the author if they’re reading the book themselves.
Business in the age of COVID has never been so fluid and flexible nor so far ranging when it comes to strategies to meet the content consumer on the go. No one is static. And Audivita is right in sync.