Finding your voice: Secrets of successful audio and video content strategy

At the AOP, we're lucky to count genuine publishing pioneers amongst our members, hailing from the days when the great tech disruptor was the printing press. Now, publishers must be interdisciplinary, taking what once filled newspaper pages and disseminating it across social media, video platforms, podcasts, and wherever else audiences spend their time.

For some, this is a process of radical change. For others, it's business as usual. At AOP CRUNCH, we brought both sets together to share their strategies for audio and video success. Here are some of the highlights from the day's discussions, which were hosted by Jon O'Donnell, CEO & chief creative officer at Viral Tribe Entertainment.

Podcasts have gone from ears to eyes, and content needs to keep up

The morning began with a presentation by Richard Blake and Michaela Hallam from Fresh Air, a podcast production company that works with a variety of household name publishers and brands, who came with a wealth of podcasting expertise.

Unlike much of the algorithm-driven content of today, no one listens to a podcast by mistake. With headphones accounting for 90% of podcast listening, audiences enjoy an intimate, private experience that is a true reflection of their personal interests. With most listening taking place while carrying out another mundane task, audiences have a high-quality bar for the content, which translates into quality attention; one of the essential requirements for effective advertising.

The most successful campaigns go beyond a simple ad insertion or host read copy with deliberate brand partnerships that enhance the narrative of the project, tying the brand in at a thematic level rather than selling a specific product. Successful examples include the L'Oreal partnership on The New York Times 'This is NOT a Beauty Podcast', and the Cadbury-sponsored episode of 'The Rest is History' which explored the history of chocolate in Europe.

Podcasts today are not only heard, they are often watched. Audio may be the preferred vehicle for podcasts for 41% of audiences, but 29% prefer video, while 23% have video podcasts playing in the background. The rise of YouTube as a popular podcast channel means publishers need to consider and cater to the growing video audience, while staying true to their established brand identity.

"Make it relevant to you as a brand, make it relatable to your target audience, and make something that bears repetition," said Hallam. "That's both in terms of the cadence (consistency is absolutely key) but also consistent ingredients across your format… It's your audio personality as a brand. Ultimately, what we're wanting to do is form a habit and create a multi-purpose tool that is going to deliver for you across multiple channels."

Video may be a daunting proposition, but Hallam stressed that the level of production value depends on the podcast. Pure discussion formats can be a simple, single-camera setup, while a documentary series would be enhanced by a more full-fledged production. Either way, publishers should make the most of these video assets, splitting them into smaller clips for short form videos that provide easily shared, snackable media.

Opportunities and challenges in the new normal of multimedia

Media and entertainment group Global has gone all in on video-first podcast production - a sentiment emphasised by its recent launch of Global Studios and acquisition of creator network The Fellas Studios. Matt Morris, Global's head of partnership innovation, shared that this video-first strategy has opened up new opportunities for advertisers and significantly increased the discoverability of podcasts.

"Short form video has really helped with discovery for audio podcasts," said Morris. "Global recognised that a podcast video clip can massively boost social discoverability - the close crop of the emotive face, the storytelling, this packaged up story has really driven discoverability, and that's given us a lot of opportunities for advertising."

However, podcasts shifting to a multimedia approach has complicated selling what was once a purely audio buy for agencies and brands. Rhoanna Glenn, head of commercial product at Octave, lamented the fragmentation this has added on top of an already notoriously fragmented media ecosystem, but also recognised that the broadening definition of podcasts allows them to be sold to a wider variety of buyers. Smaller campaigns can go for a budget-friendly audio-only package, while a larger campaign can go all out for a fully branded series partnership.

Glenn noted that the multifaceted nature of the modern podcast has ballooned their production pipeline: "It's not just, 'Is it going to make a good video and piece of audio?' It's, 'Can we do live events? Can we build a Facebook community? Can we build a Discord community? Can we have a WhatsApp group?' Then it's making sure all of those are still well-produced. For every single podcast now, you've got to have a producer, someone who can be your media manager, someone who can edit your content, someone who can run your live events."

For all the talk of the commercial opportunities of podcasting, Mike Wooller, deputy head of podcasts at dmg media, emphasised their editorial value: "It's a way to tell a story in a way that is best served in audio… If we were to have done 'Pipeline' in the written form, it would have been weeks and weeks and weeks of stories in print or digital. In podcast form, it's eight hours of audio. That can't be told in such depth in any other format. Our approach is to take a story and decide, where is the best place for this to live? How can we best tell that story?"

Covering hard topics raises publishers' eternal bugbear: brand safety. Wooller circumvents concerns by creating a two-minute buffer zone around each advert where no unsafe material is discussed, which is especially important in the highly popular but potentially brand-toxic true crime genre.

Podcasts may not be free from the burden of brand safety commitments, but they are somewhat sheltered from AI disruption.

"Publishers are having to think of interesting ways to engage their audience because, with AI answers, search traffic is dropping off a cliff," said Morris. "Community is something that AI can't emulate easily. So, doubling down on that community and exclusive content that AI can't generate is incredibly important. The connection that listeners and viewers have with those presenters - something that radio has known about for a long time - that loyalty is incredibly valuable."

Metro's creator-led strategy took its TikTok following from thousands to millions

When Alex Goldsmith joined Metro as its head of social video, it had just 8,000 TikTok followers. Today, Metro boasts 3.3 million across four verticals: news, entertainment, gaming, and sport. Goldsmith believes having a presence on social video, particularly the short form vertical, is now central to content creation and the news cycle, with everyone from big brand publishers to content creators and Joe Bloggs down the street throwing their hat in the ring.

Goldsmith's strategy hinged on talent, recreating the authentic, creator-led ecosystem that has developed within the world of social video within Metro's walls. Teams of in-house talent were developed - many of whom are content creators in their own rights - and put at the forefront of their respective niches. Because they came from the social video world, these presenters deeply understood the communities surrounding their verticals, bringing an authenticity that translated into audience loyalty.

While creators remain in their respective niches, Goldsmith is exploring how their ideas can cross borders: "Where we see crossover is within our original formats. For example, 'Real Quick Though' is an opinion-based format that originated in sport, but that's now something that we can trial on the other channels as well. Just last week, we launched our first episode of 'Real Quick Though' on our entertainment channel."

The trust in the Metro brand combined with the authenticity of social-first creators has paid off, with an engagement rate four times above the industry standard.

Where there is engagement, advertisers follow, and Chris Buswell, Metro's commercial video lead, sits between editorial and commercial teams to foster collaboration between the two.

With social audiences especially able to "cut through BS", Buswell's team works to ensure commercial partnerships don't cross the cringe threshold: "We are basically the advisory board for the commercial team. Whenever we get a brief in, we are responding to those briefs with a pure editorial mindset, so that whenever we are creating content, we weave that brand in as effortlessly as possible. I think most people aren't annoyed by adverts, they're just annoyed by annoying adverts."

Cultivating talent for cross-platform and community reach

As social media captures mass engagement and broadcasters pump out premium productions, Paul Doyle, director of video strategy & delivery at Immediate, found that publishers can feel like they're the "squeezed middle" of audiovisual content. However, Doyle has learned to leverage this position, pulling from and pushing into both extremes of the media ecosystem.

Publishers can bring in talent from the social sphere (as demonstrated by Metro) and give them a platform where they can establish their expertise and reputation, which can then be carried over to broadcast productions, ultimately bringing more audiences to a publishers' own content. To be able to master both realms, publishers need to be adaptable, from journalists filming on their mobiles for quick turnaround, on-the-ground video to studio-developed, tentpole productions.

Doyle has aspirations not just to feature on broadcaster content, but to share a screen with them: "Social will always play a role, but increasingly, it is about that high attention premium video. You can see the adoption of connected TV, you can see YouTube is now increasingly in a living room space as opposed to a mobile phone space. With that comes a slightly different shift in the kind of content you're making."

Drawing from the world of influencers for talent can safeguard authenticity, but it can backfire. For Jo Parkerson, director of video & entertainment at Bauer, it's not enough if an influencer has been on 'Love Island', what matters is whether their tone, their audience, and their expertise is right for the brand.

"It's about authenticity again. Developing in-house talent is really important," said Parkerson. "I've got two reporters who I encourage to build up their own profile. They're getting bigger, they're getting more famous for the interviews they do because their moments go viral. That's great for them, and that's great for us, and they're trusted.

"There is a bit of a backlash, certainly in the world of entertainment, of sending influencers to do interviews because the audience don't like it, they know that person is not an expert, they were on a reality show. You have to be careful, when you're going for talent with social scale, who you choose to work with."

For Callum Main, video editor at DC Thomson, building presenters' profiles has the knock-on effect of putting guests at ease, particularly important for its B2B publications where participants may be more guarded when a camera is pointed at them: "Guests come into the studio and they go, 'Oh, I saw your interview, I really enjoyed it!' It relaxes them in the studio, which - as someone who's producing these videos - is good for me, and it also means they know that person's personality. They talk a bit more freely, and the content is therefore more engaging."

How Which? uses podcasts to find the next generation of subscribers

With a make-or-break reputation for impartiality and a subscriber-driven revenue model, Which? faces a very different set of challenges to most publishers establishing an audiovisual presence. While Which? could never secure a commercial partnership with one of its recommended providers, it can tap into them for content. For example, having someone from a recommended pension provider as a guest on the 'Which? Money' podcast.

All of Which?'s media efforts feed back into lifting subscriber numbers. Rob Lilley-Jones, co-head of video & audio at Which?, described the waterfall that feeds the subscription funnel, with podcasts driving newsletter subscriptions, and newsletter subscriptions driving paid memberships. Ultimately, it's about bringing in the next generation of Which? subscribers: "We want to bring in that younger audience. … Your grandparents might have been subscribers to Which?, or your parents, but we want you to be a subscriber to Which?. How do we do that? One of our podcasts is called 'Which? Shorts', where we give our audience a taste of our magazine content that otherwise would be locked up, but it's a narrative read so people can just listen to it wherever they are."

Though Which? has rather unique editorial and commercial characteristics, every publisher is working to establish the same generational foothold. That's why mastering audio and video is core to the continued mission of premium publishers: to inform, entertain, and connect audiences. We once called them readers, now they are listeners and watchers too. Whatever we call them, we need to meet them where they are and speak in their language.

More information about the AOP CRUNCH series can be found here.