Podcasts are now having world premieres at film festivals, shared Nick Elliot, associate director of content marketing at Audible, in conversation at Variety Studio presented by Canva at Advertising Week.
While speaking to his colleague Susan Jurevics, chief brand and international officer at Audible, Elliot shared the story of how the podcast series “The Space Within,” featuring an all-star cast including Jessica Chastain, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
“We had an incredible cast, we had incredible writers. And so we decided to put on a truly unique, first-of-its-kind audio experience,” he shared.
In their discussion, Elliot emphasized that Audible is “working with major Hollywood actors who are genuinely excited about being able to record something without a massive set that they need to navigate.”
He continued, “It’s just them in the microphone. And it’s sort of a private personal experience.”
Audible is also focused on expanding their global presence and representing international voices.
One of their recent global campaigns involves bringing popular German author Sebastian Fitzek to an American audience.
Jurevics shared a story about the lengths the team has gone to in order to bring his work to new listeners and make him feel welcomed: “We decided when Sebastian was coming into town that we would outfit our entire lobby, including the billboard [outside the Newark office], with his work…And so he came in and was completely overwhelmed,” she said.
Elliot continued, “What’s so core to that relationship we built with him is we brought him into the fold. We wanted to know: ‘You’ve been doing this for 20 years, what worked? What are your goals here in the States?’ And we really engaged him and our German marketplace early and often to figure out what have they done.”
Advancing technology has also played a significant role for Audible lately. Around one year ago, Jurevics shared, Audible launched a new French business model.
“We launched with about 40 different titles in binaural audio. This is really before Dolby started to take off,” Jurevics said.
She continued, “And now about a year later, I’m looking at how much amazing content is coming out of Dolby. It’s like a soundscape in your head. It’s very immersive. It’s surround sound, it’s distinction across sound, not just things like music scores or needle drop — but truly innovation in sound engineering. It’s pretty amazing.”
Looking ahead to 2024, Jurevics said, “We’re working on a lot of geographic expansion for Audible and ensuring that listeners all around the world can be elevating everyday moments through audio storytelling.”
Elliot and Jurevics concluded by emphasizing that they will continue to listen to what their customers are looking for and keep creating alongside the artists they work with.
