When a podcast becomes an unexpected hit, its creators can leverage that success in a number of different ways. The creators of the Football Ramble podcast chose to parlay their success into the creation of Stak - a podcast production company-cum-network that operates a number of successful shows across a variety of different genres.
With more than 300 million listens across its portfolio, Stak is now a firm success, but the road to get there wasn’t easy. In this week’s episode, Rhianna Dhillon and Adam Shepherd sit down with COO and co-founder Luke Moore to discuss sneaking into radio studios, moving beyond sports shows, and the role of video in the company’s future.
Key takeways
First impressions count
On whether having its own studio opened new opportunities for Stak
“It did for a while. It was actually a really interesting thing, because it made us seem professional. And we'd always try to carry ourselves in a professional way, of course, but if you're bringing someone new into the mix and you want to work with them, it's great to take 'em to a studio in a nice office. Cause then they go, ‘alright, this is serious’.”
“Because what podcasting I feel like has always had is this fight to be accepted as a serious thing And that's obviously happening a lot more recently. But you know, I spent a long time telling people what a podcast was, cause they just didn't know. And so the industry is so young that it's always necessarily gonna be a bit of a little brother at first and want a fight to be taken seriously. So those kind of optics help, right?”
Fair pay for fair work
“All of our team are full-time employed, contracted with all the benefits that come along with that, because that's something I feel pretty passionate about. I don’t like to talk about too much, but as a working-class lad who tried to come and do something, I didn't want other people with my background to not be able to come and work.”
“I would never ask for anyone to work for free. I would never ask anyone to work on not a kind of solid, permanent basis with all the security that comes along with that. And then what we try and do is we try and hire people out of university pretty young, and then move them through the gears.”
Hold onto your IP
“The second reason I love fiction is because of the IP value of it, right? So the IP value of Boom is far bigger to us as an independent company than just the advertising or sponsorship revenue that you get for a six-episode series once a year. Unless it does huge, huge numbers - and there's a lot of barriers to that - it's just not realistically a financial going concern. So the IP dimension makes it interesting.
“So yes, we are having those conversations. Yes, we've been out to the US and stuff to chat to people about it… why I'm interested in IP is because bigger companies in New York and in LA tell me they're interested in it - so I'd be an idiot not to be interested in it.”
Footnotes
Enron audio drama Boom returning for second series next week
AI, video, and subscriptions: the hottest topics at this year’s Podcast Show
Goalhanger Podcasts: Scoring a chart hat-trick
The Football Ramble launches exclusive merch line in partnership with Percival
Paul Rayment: How Footballco finds partners through podcasting
Why are podcasts a solo activity?
Ben Youatt: Growing a publisher podcast network
How multichannel podcasting can help build your brand
Blanchard House: The importance of owning your IP
How to build a media kit to make your podcast shine
Turning podcasts into screen projects
How to record better podcasts from home
Jaguar Bingham launches podcast documentary on representation in UK dance music
