Winner: "This is Spoke", Penguin Random House UK, Fremantle, BMG
This Is Spoke is a unique collaboration between Penguin Random House UK, Fremantle and BMG. Spoke is an uncensored podcast for a Gen Z audience that aims to unpack some of the biggest issues in youth culture through a literary and musical lens. It puts books and music at its heart – whether it’s inviting authors or musicians on as guestsor ending each episode by asking guests about an item that has played a pivotal role in their lives, often a book, poem or piece of music.
So far it has released two seasons, each containing 12 roughly hour-long episodes – the second in 2019. To attract a Gen Z audience, in addition to recording audio, the podcast is filmed to give listeners a shareable look behind the scenes so they can visualise the dynamic between hosts and guests in the booth and feel immersed in the conversation.
Season two of Spoke has recorded a 94.5% increase in listenership when comparing stats from both seasons’ 12-week release period, as well as features on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the Acast app and Castbox.
Season two content was seen by 1.7m individuals and there were 50,000 clicks to the podcast, with a CPC of 17p, which helped drive 31,000 listens to date. In total, it is nearing 60,000 listens across all episodes.
Highly commended
Economist Radio's The Economist Asks, The Economist
The Economist Asks podcast started in 2015, posing questions on big issues to the most notable people of our time. It complements The Economist’s existing output for subscribers and acts as an introduction to its journalism for those not already familiar with it. In 2019, 22 well-known personalities who are making an impact appeared. These included New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, president of the ECB Christine Lagarde, economist Mark Carney and author Margaret Atwood. The Economist Asks reaches 500,000-plus monthly listeners and is downloaded more than 1.2m each month.
Shortlisted
The Week Unwrapped, Dennis Publishing
The Leader, Evening Standard
The Runner’s World UK podcast, Runner's World
Today in Focus, The Guardian