Erica Mandy, The Newsworthy, What Comes Next In Podcasting? - The Podcast Report

You know, there are so many shows that are based on long form interviews and those are great. But if in, especially if it's also in your niche, there's a million other ones. What could you do that's different then I was looking, okay, my background's in news and journalism. What's not being done here and what do I know my friends want? And that's something that's little. Even though NPR is amazing, what is not so NPR style, like some people want something that's different.

You are listening to the podcast report with Paul Colligan.

Here's Paul.

Very excited about this interview with Erica Mandy. Two things you want to track. Number one, it's an interesting model. Decade plus in podcasting you hear over and over again. Well, there's nothing new. There is new. Erica did this recently. It's an interesting model everyone should consider. Number two, it does change things, or at least it has the potential to change things with the new announcements from Pandora and Spotify and Apple. The industry's changing. This is a model to change with it. Maybe you could play through track both. Think about it. Number two, we chat about New and Notable a bit. She got on the front page of itunes. New and Notable. Listen to her numbers. Maybe not as big as you might have thought. I'll tell you this, not as big as when I got a client on New and notable about what, 18 months ago now. And this is the homepage of New Notable, not one of the, you know, sub pages. Take a listen to that. Interesting stuff. I do have to apologize. My mic settings were off. This is not the best recording on my side. Any static you hear is me and not Erica doing a less than stellar job here. But Erica was great to have you on the show. We're going to get to the interview right after our tip of the week. Hey, Paul, what microphone should I get? Wrong question. What is your message? What are you telling your audience? What is it that makes you and your show unique? Once you figure that out, the microphone will come into play. But don't start with the tech. Start with the message and you'll have a podcast that lasts. I'm on the Skype line with Erica Mand, God bless her. A daily news show it is at the moment, or at least last time we chatted. Compiled by her, produced by her, performed by her, comes out five days a week. I thought a two things when I heard about this. One, she wasn't gonna last. Well, we did this interview late enough that guys, she's lasting. And number two, it wasn't gonna catch on. And here's what's funny. Pretty much out the door accolades from everyone. So, Erica, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me.

Talk about the show.

Cool. So it's called the Newsworthy. I spent the last 10 years as a broadcast journalist and TV news reporter working my way up the ranks. Most recently was at CBS Los Angeles. Realized that everybody that I know wasn't watching the news and that frankly, they felt like the news was too depressing, too boring. They didn't have time for it. They got lost in clickbait. There were too many political debates on Facebook and everything was too biased. So I thought here I am uniquely positioned to provide something different because I love good news and telling things in an upbeat way and I have this background in journalism. So long story short, I quit my job and started the Newsworthy. And in the first few months I've been fortunate enough to have some good success, some good growth, some features and my first sponsor. So well on my way.

Who's your first sponsor? Let's give them a plug here.

Sole Organics. It's organic sheets and bedding.

Soul Organic. Awesome. And how many days a week does this show come out?

It's Monday through Friday. It comes out by 4:00am Eastern Time.

And how long is each episode currently taking you?

Well, if you're just counting the actual show production, I take about three to four hours to write and then I record and edit, you know, in about an hour, hour and a half. Then I publish, write an email, do the show notes. So it's a full day. And in the morning before that is when I'm doing social media, marketing, networking, all that other stuff.

One woman show right now.

It is awesome. I did just start a new small interview segment just once a week, but I'm kind of testing that out for a month or two and see how people like it. But the main thing is just all your news in less than 10 minutes. Well rounded, upbeat.

So you launch itunes picked you up. What did that do for traffic?

That was huge for me, I think because I have such a broad audience. You know, I'm not as niche as some podcasts that I got a good peak and it stuck with me. So I was on new and noteworthy for about two weeks and then they moved me down to be under the daily news category, which was just cool for credibility in itself because I was next to the daily and some of those big media organizations. So that was really great for discovery as people especially would look for news. So I would say you know, I got probably 700 to 1,000 listeners that probably all stuck with me from just even the two weeks of New and noteworthy.

And that's New and noteworthy. Itunes proper. You turn on itunes, that's what's there on the front page. Not something in the subcategory. You were up front and center, right?

Yes.

And that about 700 to 1,000.

Yeah. And you know, I'm sure there were people that came and went, but I've heard a lot that people get peaks from that and then it goes away. So I've been lucky enough that. But that's really stuck with me even when I went off of new and noteworthy.

Well, and there's a couple things there. A, there's this premise that you get on new notes, noteworthy and suddenly you're famous. And whereas nobody will turn away a thousand listeners. It's, you know, you haven't bought the Tesla yet with the profits. And so that's interesting. But now you're in the quick and fast world of daily news. And in the last couple of weeks there's been some announcements. Number one, iTunes, a Siri based daily news show, sort of to go in line with the home pod. Number two, Pandora. Look at that, my Siri just went off. Number two, Pandora. Gonna get in the game. Sort of a podcast version of the music genome project. And then Spotify is even poking around a little bit more deep and coming pretty quick after embracing everybody with both new formats inside of podcasting with some images and that kind of thing as well as looking at news as well. So suddenly a lot of people are picking up the idea that we might want to get daily news from our podcast. So, you know, were you a futurist? Did you know this was coming? Was this all part of your plan? How do you feel about all this?

Yeah, I think it's really exciting and I think it's just proof that people do want this. And especially as we get busier and busier and smart speakers are becoming popular. As we've talked about pa people want to be on the go and stay informed at the same time. We frankly don't have time to watch hours and hours or listen to hours and hours of news. But you still want to know what's going on and then you can read more about only the things that interest you the most. So yeah, I think it's really exciting. When I first started, it's because I knew that it's what I wanted. I wanted to be able to listen to something while I'm doing my makeup. Or, you know, having coffee in the morning and not have to sit in front of my computer when I have a million other things going on. So I knew that at least and that that was what people were telling me they wanted as well. And because there's so much potential with podcasts, like, okay, I can eventually turn it into a video and have it be multi platform. It can be a podcast and it can be on the Amazon show or, you know, a video version of Pandora or whatever. I think that the possibilities are endless. Whereas, you know, I'm on the traditional track and it feels a lot more traditional. We tend to be behind when, you know, traditional media, in my opinion, is a lot of times the last one to try to get on a trend, even though they're reporting on the trend. So. So yeah, I wanted to jump on it and make sure that I'm there and ready to be part of the news that's leading the way instead of trying to catch up all the time.

Well, first, let's have some fun here. If Pandora or Spotify or Siri Podcast want to get a hold of you, give us the website and give us the best way to get a hold of you.

Yes, thank you. It's thenewsworthy.com or ericamandy.com and there's a contact form on there. Or they can just email. Hello, thenewsworthy.com beautiful.

Now, in the online streaming television space, something has happened pretty quickly. It's been pretty interesting. Online streaming got most people fairly excited, but there were all these holdouts because. But I want my sports. That was the one thing that you really weren't going to be able to get in online tv. And lo and behold, it's now there you can get your local stations. Between YouTube Live and Hulu Live and Sling, people are cutting the cable more than ever. And one of the things I heard in podcasting for a long time was it's great for an interview, it's great for a story, but the cutting edge, here's what happened today stuff. I'm not going to get my podcast and you've changed that. Is podcasting going to jump that one or are we going to fix that one? Or are you like a fluke?

I definitely think that there is a whole path for this. I mean, again, as we've talked about with smart speakers, you want to start your morning, wake up, be informed while you're doing other things. You don't want to have to sit in front of the computer screen or the tv. And so as smart speakers come into play as we use our phones more and more. I definitely think there is a place for this and that it's only going to continue to grow. Absolutely. And also to the point, you know, we think about Napster and how, you know, it took a minute for itunes to offer a paid version of music and once they did, the free illegal music went away. And I think it's the same thing with podcasting and different forms. You know, once we can figure out how to offer it, people will jump on that. We just, we have to get ahead of it.

I think the smart speaker, I think the voice activated, I think the daily routine, I think the Pandora podcast genome project kind of thing. I think this comes together now also the last couple months it's been busy since we chatted at podcast movement recently. The itunes stats, we get to watch what we get to look at how long people consume our content. You were sharing with me some numbers. How long are they consuming your show?

This is exciting. They are sticking around for 95 to 104%. And I was actually asking you what is 104%? I mean, I'll take it, but I wasn't sure exactly what that meant and sounds like maybe they're, they're going back and listening to something a second time. But because it's that short format, I love to see that they're sticking around for the whole thing. And because I'm giving them a new story every minute or so, it, you know, it keeps it moving.

I think what's interesting there is just that this is not. You mentioned clickbait and I wouldn't say this is necessarily accusing being clickbait, but the same sort of thing, like if you listed 10 stories and somebody wanted to hear about story number six, they're not going to listen to 100%. They're going to listen to a little bit. The fact that they're consuming the whole show means that this format is viable and that the numbers are there steadfast. Means that it's not just, it's not just a one off. It's an interesting new, you know, niche, I guess, if you will or format or whatnot.

Yeah. And I, you know, the feedback I've gotten from people is that this is a great way to start their day and go into work feeling informed or going into any conversation feeling informed. And again, on my show notes, I offer all the links to every article that I reference for the story. So if something interests you, you can always go back later and read more about it. I'm not Saying mine has to be the only news you consume all day. Some people tell me it is, and that's fine and that's great. But for not everybody just wants to get that you bite sized news. So you can always go back. But this is a way to start your day without all the negative energy and that they love it because it's well rounded. I don't just talk about politics. I'm talking about the tech news that might, might have come out that day or an award show that's happening tonight. So you can feel well rounded. And I think that's what people love about it, is there's more variety than anything else.

And daily, really daily, you know, podcasting has a couple of pretty famous daily shows, but a lot of us will peek in Friday, look at the seven topics over the last seven days and go, I might listen to part of Wednesday if it interests me. But the daily consumption thing is really interesting and the change in behavior is, I think, what has me the most. Because we have this vision of someone basically getting up, having their day, and then at some point podcasting becomes part of their day. They get in the car, they're in traffic, okay, now what am I going to listen to? Or, or they go to the gym, they get on the treadmill, you know, they turn on their phone, okay, what am I going to consume? But now it's almost as natural as, you know, the morning cup of coffee, the morning paper, you know, the morning Erica. And this should be exciting for all podcasters and might be a call to possibly reformat or reconsider what it is that you're doing. Because if this behavior is the future, shows might want to look a little bit different. Any thoughts?

I absolutely have heard from listeners that I am part of their routine and their habit. And I actually have heard from quite a few people that they wake up on Saturday morning looking for my podcast and then going, oh, yeah, it's not here on Saturdays. And I love that. I'm like, good, I want you to look for me on Saturday because that means I am definitely part of your habit. And I love that.

So solar organic is now part of people's routine and habit. That's got to be pretty good for you on a sponsor side of things.

Absolutely. And I like it because I am a little bit broader that everybody wants sheets and bedding. So that's the only struggle, I would say, with a niche, you know exactly who your sponsor is going to be. When you're a little bit more broad, you definitely need somebody who's going to appeal to more people. But Solarganics fell in my lap and it's been perfect. And we've done a split flat fee and reven and I've ended up making more than just a typical cpm.

Very cool. Now let's step ahead a little bit because you are doing the model of the insert in the show. But what gets interesting is if the Pandora dream of someone, the Stitcher dream, I mean, let's, you know, Stitcher's been trying to do it. They just haven't really figured out how yet. But if, if, if I were to get a daily show assembled by a third party and that included you first, and then maybe jokes from someone or, you know, commentary or something, they could then dynamically insert ads based on my demographic target. Better charge more, share more with you. I mean, we could really see, you know, news created for everyone, but. But distributed with insertion in such a way that a, somebody doesn't care about sheets isn't going to get an episode about, you know, isn't going to get a commercial about sheets. But B, you know, the brain surgeons who listen to you in the morning are going to get ads customized to a brain surgeon, which are really expensive. The rocket scientists who listen to you in the morning will get an ad customized for rocket scientist, and those are really expensive. And things could go up for you if this future works. And let's face it, Stitch has been trying to do it, Pandora's trying to do it, Apple's trying to do it. This could be a really interesting place for you.

Yeah, I think it's really exciting and I am definitely open to that type of partnership because I think, look, all these news media organizations have this huge marketing budget, and let's face it, I don't have that same budget even if my product is just as good. And so if they can open that up and offer a way for people to discover it and then we all win through monetization in new ways, then I think that's really exciting.

There was a firm that I was under enough NDAs with that. I won't say. But yeah, the whole dream was serve the podcasts without the ads with the insertion. Again, targeted. Could be interesting. And you know, let's face it now, I mean, those, those stats from Apple are really interesting because I'm going to trust them on their privacy claims and I'm going to trust that they're not building psychographs of all of us. But we know a lot about the podcast consumer and what's neat is, you know, I Dare say, as charming as you are, your specialty is not in sponsor acquisition. Your specialty is in the condensing of the news in a bright way. And you know, under 10 minutes on a daily basis. And there are people who are better at sponsor acquisition and you know, and there are people better at the technology of stitching this together. And when we team up and do this right, this could get interesting.

I definitely agree. And the only thing that I will be curious about is what does it actually look like in dollar and cents. So is it going to be enough? I think if they can put it in a way so that your audience is growing huge. Even if, if the amount that you're getting per ad is less than you could maybe get with an individual host read, it could potentially add up to way more if they're helping with discovery. So I'll be curious to see some of the numbers. But I think it's a really good.

First step, I think, and I'd love your thoughts. I think it's our future. I think when a customer consumes a piece of podcast, the read, you know, we understand it's what pays the bills, but it's the necessary evil, you know, and sometimes it'll pay the bill and we'll get the Kinect and the product might even be sold. But even, you know, everybody's just hard, you know, I wish I could get Erica without the ad. I wish I could get this show without the ad. And then if there's an engine to do it, you know, could be interesting. I mean, I mean premium, you know, they're trying premium podcast right now, you know, where it's actually the PBS mode with, you know, without the ad. Although PBS is as ad centric as anyone else these days. But we're, it's, it's an interesting place. So one year from now, you know, it's January 2019, where do you want to be with the show?

I definitely would love to. It's funny that we've talked about this. I would love to partner with another organization that provides that platform because the feedback that I'm getting from my audience now has been so good that I think setting it up for more discovery is the way to go. I also could see it being multi platform, so I would love to expand this into video as well and give people some options there. But I just wanted to focus on one at first and make sure that's working and then I can expand from there. So definitely open to those partnerships and open to being in more than one place along your day.

Do you see yourself editing in a year or do you see that being put into someone else's hands?

I would love to have help on two fronts. One, the writing aspect. I have a freelance writer that helps me when I have other events like conferences that I need to go to. And then so hiring someone like that more full time, and then I would love to have editing help as well. I would have to find somebody who's willing to do it every night because I publish at one in the morning, West Coast Pacific time. So I would have to have someone that's willing to do it because I think a lot of editors that I've talked to are used to the weekly show and give me four days and I'll get it back to you. My deadline's tight.

Maybe five editors, maybe the Monday editor, the Tuesday editor.

Right, right. Yeah, I definitely want to have help so I can focus on more of the business and business development and marketing side of things.

Interesting. I think this is interesting space, Eric. And I think it's, you know, there's one story of just the production hustle that you represent, which is pleasant to watch, fun to listen to, and definitely, I think, encouraging to all the little guy and gal podcasters out there. But I think secondly, I really do want everyone listening to this to consider the change in behavioral practices that I'm not going to say Erica brought it on, but I'm going to say that Erica's show represents and what that's there. And then from that change in behavior, the opportunity for assembly, the opportunity for combining shows is not just possible. Podcasters love to chat about what's possible, but it's being done. ITunes is in the game. Stitcher has been dabbling in the game. Pandora's coming in, Spotify is coming in. And this is a step. And every podcaster should consider what these opportunities mean. And it's not just a thing of. It's not just the expansion of the show to the smart speaker, but it's the change in behaviors, the change in opportunities, the change in access and what that means. Any final thoughts or should we bring it all to a close?

Yeah, I would just say that, you know, when I started this, I looked at what wasn't already happening. You know, there are so many shows that are based on long form interviews, and those are great, but if in, especially if it's also in your niche, there's a million other ones. What could you do that's different? And so then I was looking, okay, my background's in news and journalism. What's not being done here and what do I know my friends want? And that's something that's little. Even though NPR is amazing, what is not so NPR style? Like some people want something that's different. And so I would just encourage everybody to think about what they can do that different than what's already being done. And especially as we grow onto different platforms and different media organizations and how we can partner with those. How can you offer them something that's different?

Are you saying not all the good ideas have been taken for podcasting?

Absolutely.

Now, again, when did the show launch?

August 28th was my trailer that came out. So I've been out for about four to five months.

Okay. So this is a new endeavor. This is not. Yeah. And that's important. And you did it because no one else was doing it. And there will probably be some copycats. But. And I wouldn't recommend going up against Erica. She's a beast here. She's doing a fantastic job. But the lesson from Erica, there's still some options out there and you can change some behaviors. You can join with the big boys. I think we're in a good space. Erica, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Thank you so much, Paul.

There's a bigger conversation here. I would love to have it with you. ThePodcastReport.com 137 ThePodcastReport.com Facebook ThePodcastReport.com Twitter let's chat. Reach out to Mandy. Link to the podcast to her show. The newsworthy@the podcastreport.com 137We also got links to what's happening at Pandora, what's happening at Spotify, what's happening with the Apple Siri podcast. News runs. Lots of interesting stuff@thepodcastreport.com 137 I would like to continue this conversation with you. I'd like to hear from you. I'm sure Erica would like to hear from you. This is a big topic. Thrilled to bring you Erica. We'll chat next week. Bye. We love the social interaction here at the podcast report. ThePodcastReport.com Facebook ThePodcastReport.com Twitter LepodcastReport.com InsertSocialPlatform of your choice. We'd love to hear from you. Love to give you the chance to interact with other listeners of the show. Another thing we'd love to have you do is simply subscribe to the show if you know what that means. Great. Head out to the podcatcher of your choice and subscribe to the show. If you don't know what that means. Basically, all the big programs, itunes, Google, Stitcher, all of these platforms give you the ability to subscribe to the show like you'd subscribe to a magazine or a newspaper. And then the minute a new episode comes out, it comes to you automatically. It comes to you without worries about spam or that type of thing. And you don't have to visit the website. You don't have to go out to these platforms and see if there's something new. It comes to you automatically. Do that by subscribing thepodcastreport.com iTunes, the podcastreport.com TuneIn the podcastreport.com Stitcher. You get the idea. Finally, last but not least, we do have an email address. It's the podcastreportoutlook.com Would love to hear from you. Check with you next week. Bye.