It’s Episode 14 of Press Publish, the Nieman Lab podcast! My guest today is Jenna Weiss-Berman, the director of audio at BuzzFeed. Jenna was hired last fall to figure out the site’s podcasting strategy, and thus far she’s launched three shows, each targeting the sites’s young diverse audience. Just about everything BuzzFeed does draws attention,...

It’s Episode 14 of Press Publish, the Nieman Lab podcast!


My guest today is Jenna Weiss-Berman, the director of audio at BuzzFeed. Jenna was hired last fall to figure out the site’s podcasting strategy, and thus far she’s launched three shows, each targeting the sites’s young diverse audience.


Just about everything BuzzFeed does draws attention, and its approach to podcasting is no different. Jenna’s job is to figure out audio’s place between BuzzFeed’s two great goliaths — text with pictures on one hand and video on the other. BuzzFeed’s enormous success with viral content might make you think social sharing is her team’s main goal — but in some ways BuzzFeed’s podcasts are more traditional than that.


We talked about how podcasts can reach a younger audience, whether audio is just a stepping stone to video, and her advice for young people who want to break into the podcast business. Here’s our conversation.


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Show notes

Jenna Weiss-Berman on LinkedIn

@WBJenna

BuzzFeed Podcasts

Another Round

Internet Explorer

Rerun

Jack Shepherd

What is the best way to track podcast “listenership”?

Ben Smith, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief

Lean In

Julia Furlan

Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton, hosts of Another Round

Internet Explorer on SoundCloud

Another Round live show in June

“What Kind Of Stuff On The Internet Do Teens Actually Think Is Cool?” (July 15, 2015)

“14 Times Daria And Quinn Morgendorffer Were You And Your Sister” (Aug. 17, 2015)

Earwolf

Panoply

The debut episode of Internet Explorer

Carl Kasell

NPR One

TED Radio Hour

Call Your Girlfriend

Matt Lieber of Gimlet Media

Serial

Welcome to Night Vale

“35 Hidden Podcasts You Really Should Be Listening To” (July 8, 2015)

An example of an ad in Another Round

“BuzzFeed Motion Pictures videos reach 1 billion monthly views” (March 12, 2015)

Grantland’s podcasts

“NBCUniversal to Invest $200 Million in BuzzFeed” (Aug. 18, 2015)

Acast

99% Invisible

Scumbag Steve

Anna Sale

Death, Sex, and Money

It Gets Better


Photo via Retail DJ.

Twitter Mentions