Not The Great Muppet Caper
The Heist, the NFL, and you should consider this...
Hey Party People!
We hope you are having a fantastic week!
Industry update: Hot off the heels of Call Her Daddy moving to Spotify exclusively, SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett moves to Amazon Music for up to $80 million and semi-exclusively. The TL;DR: New SmartLess episodes will release one week earlier than other platforms and if there are new podcasts from the three of them, Amazon will have a first look option. So it’s semi-exclusive. Read more here.
Incubator update: This week’s lesson was around the question startups get about their product, “Why now?” You would think it is obvious for podcasts, but it’s not to a lot of people. For us, podcasts are at monumental growth year over year and new forms of discovery have been stale. Enter Great Pods. Podcast criticism was in its infancy 10 years ago, and like the industry, it’s grown enough for us to reel it in as a source for podcast discovery. It’s not our final “Why now?”, but it’s a start. #GreatPods
Product Update: We have now added all the genres listed on our Reviews page! Thanks to Chris and Brian! Want to help evolve the Great Pods site? Email us at hello@greatpods.co #BuildInPublic
Mobile Device Update: The new updates are live everywhere, but it is not optimized for mobile devices. It will be soon.
On to my picks this week…
Podcast: The Lazarus Heist
Genre: True Crime
Publisher: BBC
After adding several critical reviews of The Lazarus Heist to the platform, I decided to listen. My first reaction. Dang, I like it. The BBC True Crime Caper podcast around the Sony hacks feels like a movie in the movie. It’s probably because it was only 2014 when the hacks occurred. Note: Not all True Crime is about murder!
James Marriot - The Times UK - May 6, 2021
“The Lazarus Heist doesn’t think it’s going to change the world, but you’ll have a lot of fun listening to it while you’re on a walk or cooking dinner.”
About: “Almost a perfect crime.” The hacking ring and an attempt to steal a billion dollars. Investigators blame North Korea. Pyongyang denies involvement. The story begins in Hollywood.
Podcast: Around the NFL
Genre: Sports - NFL
Publisher: NFL
That’s a lot of NFL. For the first time, an active player, Carl Nassib (Raiders), came out as gay and the league did not shun him but supported him. Read about it here.
The team at Around the NFL shares the audio and recaps how important of an announcement this was.
This conversation starts at the 14-minute mark.
Rafael Canton - ONE37pm - Oct 8, 2020
“Around the NFL has some of the best chemistry between its hosts. It really feels like a group of longtime friends chopping it up about their favorite sport.”
Podcast: Consider This
Genre: Daily News
Publisher: NPR
With the product updates, we restarted user testing. This recommendation was straight from one user test. She selected the 5 stars rated NPR podcast. She mentioned, “I can’t be listening to NPR all day, so this looks like it takes the stories from NPR around the nation into one timely podcast.” Website success!
It’s also the perfect plug to explore our “More Genres” on the reviews page!
Jess Joho - Mashable - Oct 21, 2020
“…the final few minutes are spent on local news — an integral but often overlooked aspect of a healthy news diet.”
If you want to participate in our user testing, email hello@greatpods.co.
Wow! You made it this far. For my birthday this weekend, I just want to say thank you for being on this journey with us. It means the world to me. I only ask you to be kind, celebrate responsibly, donate to a local charity, and laugh a lot. These two episodes I am recommending are for those laugh-out-loud moments.
Jeff Goldblum on Conan Needs A Friend
George Clooney on SmartLess
XOXO
Captain Ron