Korri Kolesa

Podcasting seems to be the "shiny new toy" in the industry today, as new podcasts keep popping up almost daily. Yet despite the perceptual popularity, it has yet to become a steady and significant revenue generator. But according to Stitcher and Midroll Chief Revenue Officer Korri Kolesa, that's about to change. More and more podcasts are starting to run in the black, and people are just starting to cash in. Here's how she does it...

You've recently assumed a new role within Stitcher. Tell us about that.

As Chief Revenue Officer, I oversee Stitcher's partnerships and sales teams, which includes Midroll, the leader in podcast advertising. Our partnerships team works with the more than 200 shows in Stitcher's catalogue -- including our owned-and-operated shows -- to ensure publishers have the best end-to-end experience, from producing podcasts to monetizing them.

On the sales side, I oversee the revenue operations and strategy for our national sales team, including our brand studio. While direct-response advertisers were early movers on podcast advertising and continue to be great partners for many of our shows, brand advertisers have taken to the space in a big way and now represent 50% of the business. It's incumbent on us to demonstrate how valuable the podcasting space is now, and I'm incredibly proud of our team for leading this charge at Stitcher and Midroll.

What brought you to Stitcher?

I enjoy diving into early-stage industries that have great potential to monetize and grow. I've had a passion for digital and e-commerce since the industry began; I started a DVD company in college when DVDs were just coming to market. Over 10 years ago, I was part of the MySpace team, which was the beginning of social media marketing.

Podcasting is like radio, but better: It's more intimate, it's digital, it's on-demand. The medium has already evolved so much in just a few short years and the growth -- of audience, of show quality and of advertising dollars -- is already massive. Stitcher's innovative approach to podcasting and our creative business models set us apart from the rest of the industry.

What's the biggest challenge facing the podcasting business today?

Generating data is the big hurdle for the industry at large, but it's something that will get better with time. We need to strengthen our data in terms of getting more insights and being able to target ads based on the demographics of who is listening. There's technology in place that's getting us close to that.

At Midroll, we're already doing a really good job of monetization while working around the industry's data limitations. We're working with Nielsen to evaluate effective ad campaigns and putting metrics around them so our advertisers can better understand the value of their campaigns and what podcasting brings to them.

The rest of it is not as much of a challenge as it is an opportunity. To me, podcasting's potential is still untapped; people are just now figuring out how to best express themselves using this medium to their benefit.

When there's so many podcasts out there, how do you get yours to stand out to potential listeners?

It depends on the podcast. Are they using a one-size-fits-all approach? We're fortunate to have partners like Stephen Dubner, Marc Maron, Bill Simmons, Oprah and Jonathan Van Ness in our network. This type of talent brings a huge cachet to the space and has a carry-over halo effect. With brands this powerful, our relationship can activate all kinds of marketing.

When there's so many options, great content stands out even more. The interviews have to be strong and story podcasts must contain a good narrative. The audio quality has to be there. How do you do that other than having great content, a great narrator/host, and making sure, from an engineering perspective, that you have beautiful audio? If you have all that, you can find the right audience through marketing muscle that can connect the dots.

How big of an audience will podcasting eventually attract, and how close are you to reaching critical mass?

It's still really early; we're not anywhere near critical mass. As you find in most new mediums, we had early adopters -- young and more affluent consumers -- drive the growth because they are open to trying a new format. Now we're seeing those early audiences expand but also new audiences develop. As more types of content become available in podcasting, we'll see the overall audience grow and the composition of the audience diversify. It's an industry poised for growth in all directions.

How do you measure the success of a podcast, and how much time do you take with a podcast before you evaluate its success?

There are many ways to measure success but in terms of monetization, it's important to have an audience with critical mass and one that's meaningful to our advertising partners - who are now Fortune 100 companies such as Coke and P&G. Big brands need something meaningful. Podcasting is much more than reach; it provides powerful engagement at scale.

When do you know that a podcast is "running out of gas?" Is it always a numbers call, or can you tell on-air that the podcast isn't working well anymore?

Audience numbers will be one indicator, and you can also get a sense through listening. On the number side, is the audience engaged and tuning into each episode? Does the show still sound like it's a priority for the host? We find that the most successful podcasts have teams that consider podcasting a priority. You can hear it in the delivery, and ultimately the audience will dictate if the program is still good and viable. Audience loyalty is ultimately the best barometer.

How does Midroll effectively cross-platform its efforts?

We're in the early days of this; we expect the medium to evolve across the board. For example, we recently launched a podcast in partnership with Hulu in support of their "Castle Rock" series. The podcast was built to create deep fan engagement by allowing the directors and actors to go in depth on each TV episode and use the podcast for expanded storytelling. We're also about to launch "UnErased," a podcast in conjunction with Focus Features' "Boy Erased" theatrical release. The podcast picks up where the movie and book leave off, giving fans more ways to connect to the story. We've partnered with Oprah's OWN TV network on a "Master Class" podcast, much like we did earlier with her "SuperSoul" interview series. It's a new way to take pre-existing content and find a new audience for it. In all these instances, we're finding ways to leverage existing content into a podcast channel for expanded reach, complementary storytelling and increased engagement across platforms.

Radio seems to be jumping on the podcasting bandwagon full bore. Yet a lot of their product consists of re-purposed benchmarks from their on-air shows. What's the best ways to make these kind of podcasts successful on their own?

Most importantly, the content has to be something incredibly engaging in the first place. When you listen to the "SuperSoul" series or "Master Class," the same engagement in the TV format carries over to the podcasts. Doing that successfully contributes to the monetization. There has to be a strong engagement relationship in the radio shows and you have to be careful about capturing that.

What's the most common mistake podcasters make?

Choosing quantity over quality. There's this myth that more is better, with talent sometimes wanting to put out an episode every day. If they instead put out fewer episodes that engage the audience better, they would ultimately have a larger listening audience and one that's more likely to listen to every episode released. We've found that you don't want to oversaturate the podcast listener and, with few exceptions, you can't expect the audience to listen to a podcast more than one to three times a week. Of course, some things that are topical - for example, news or sports programs - can be carried three to five times a week. But if it's not really topical, don't put too much out there. If you go for quality over quantity, you'll help yourself in terms of audience loyalty and monetization potential.

So when the dust finally settles, where do you see the podcast platform in terms of popularity and revenue potential?

I see it inhabiting a space that can serve so many different audiences with so many different types of content. I see growth in three main areas: I expect us to continue to get more listeners, which has been trending upward aggressively year after year; second, there are so many more content houses that bring great quality content to the medium, with a more diverse mix to listen to; and finally, on monetization -- and we're seeing it firsthand at Stitcher -- there's an incredible number of advertisers who want the connection we can give them between the podcasts and their listeners.

How does Scripps' Triton acquisition impact what you do at Stitcher?

At Stitcher, we are very excited about Scripps' acquisition of Triton, given its leadership position in digital audio measurement and infrastructure. We expect to find a number of areas for collaboration between us as the podcast advertising marketplace continues its strong growth, and we'll certainly be sharing those as they come about.