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0:46

Hello and welcome back to the iHeart podcast Speakers

0:48

series. I'm Will Pearson, President of iHeart

0:51

Podcasts. Great to be with you again. We've got

0:53

a special conversation today. I know we're

0:55

usually talking to one of our favorite podcasters.

0:58

Today we're actually talking to a member

1:00

of our Ruby Studios team to

1:02

talk a little bit about the world of custom podcast

1:04

It's been super interesting watching

1:06

over the past I don't know, I'd say four or five

1:09

years, as the podcast space has

1:11

evolved from a space truly driven

1:13

by direct response advertisers, and there's

1:16

still a really important part of the industry

1:18

to brands waking up to the effectiveness

1:20

of podcast advertising and seeing

1:23

what the direct response advertisers

1:25

we're seeing, and then as they dip their

1:27

toe in the water, moving into the

1:29

space of custom podcast and custom

1:31

integrations and opportunities other ways

1:34

to activate the audience that they're trying

1:36

to activate. And so to talk about

1:38

this today and to learn a little bit about what we can be

1:40

thinking about in the world of custom podcast.

1:42

I've got Rachel Swan Krasnov, one of the leaders

1:45

of our Ruby Studios team. We're going to talk

1:47

a lot about Ruby. Rachel, thanks for joining

1:49

us today.

1:50

Thanks for having me. Super excited to be here.

1:52

Yeah, it is an exciting time to be in this space.

1:54

You guys have gotten a ton of

1:57

recognition at Ruby. Tell us a little

1:59

bit about what Ruby Studios is. You're

2:01

part of our podcast team here, but with a very

2:03

specific focus on this world of custom

2:06

podcast. Tell us about Ruby.

2:07

Yeah, absolutely, so. Ruby is the branded

2:10

audio team here at iHeart.

2:12

Everything we do ladders up to the master brand,

2:14

so you get all of the benefits of working with iHeart.

2:16

So the scale, the great names,

2:18

all those things, but also you're working with a team who

2:21

specifically understands what's important

2:23

to our partners, our brands, and not only

2:25

podcast listeners. So we work day in

2:27

and day out to really create engaging

2:29

programs with our partners. But we understand

2:32

things like KPI, it's legal reporting,

2:34

all the things that make it a lot easier

2:36

for our partners to create something really

2:38

exciting. And yeah, we like to say that we're building

2:40

more than custom podcasts. We're building really

2:43

comprehensive audio campaigns. So

2:45

we'll work with our partners to come up with a custom

2:47

podcast, but that's just the content driver itself,

2:49

and that we can really expand that to really

2:52

meet listeners where they are across the audio

2:54

realm. So it's a really exciting time.

2:56

It's been really fun to watch over the last couple

2:58

of years, especially as Ruby team

3:00

has grown to meet that demand for custom

3:03

podcasts. But you know, if you're a brand, what

3:05

should you be thinking about? If you're interested

3:07

in testing out the world of custom podcasts?

3:09

What should you be asking yourself?

3:11

First? Yeah, that's such a good question. I

3:13

think that it's going to sound very simple,

3:15

but the main thing is what do you

3:17

as a brand want to accomplish with your

3:20

custom podcast.

3:21

So my role on the team is that I really

3:23

help brands come up with these concepts.

3:25

So in Ruby, we have everyone from dedicated

3:27

pre sale to producers

3:29

to people helping really create those campaigns

3:31

all the way through. So when we start to come up

3:33

with those ideas, it's really important for us to understand

3:36

the basics. So why do you want to create a custom

3:38

podcast? What are you looking to accomplish?

3:41

What impact do you want to have. Do you want to

3:43

set yourself up as a leader in this space? Do you

3:45

want to maybe tackle a specific problem?

3:47

What's most important? On top of that, who

3:49

are you as a brand speaking to? Who's

3:51

your target audience? Is it the target

3:54

for all of your other campaigns, for everything

3:56

that you're doing, or are we reaching somebody new?

3:58

These things are really important because they help us really

4:00

craft those stories.

4:02

So know your target audience, who's your

4:04

primary, who's your secondary, who's your

4:06

tertiary, and then.

4:07

We're going to make that content for your primary

4:09

and secondary.

4:10

On top of that, like more fun stuff like the creative,

4:12

like what tone are you trying to take with

4:14

this podcast? Is it something really

4:17

fun, lighthearted, funny? If you

4:19

will or is it going to be a little more serious? Are

4:21

we going more into that thought leader space. All

4:23

of those things combined really help set us

4:25

up for success when we're coming up with those ideas.

4:28

We always tell our partners, the more info you can

4:30

give us, the better. We have a really handy

4:32

creative questionnaire that any seller watching

4:34

this call is going to be like, oh, there's the mention, there's

4:36

the first one. Because it's really the most important

4:38

part for us is again to just know as

4:40

much as we can about our partners to really build

4:42

some things that we understand the most that really speaks

4:45

to their messaging and who they want to read.

4:47

So the more info the better.

4:49

And it's fun to see that in action, you

4:51

know, seeing the range of brands that you

4:53

guys have worked with when you think about anything

4:55

from an under Armour to a T Mobile

4:58

to a Trojan to an Eye like

5:00

obviously incredibly different brands,

5:03

which I guess leads me to the question about

5:05

you know, measuring success, how we define

5:08

success in the custom space. Do you want

5:10

to talk a little bit about how you guys think about it and

5:12

then also how some of the brands have thought about

5:14

it that you work.

5:15

With yeah, absolutely, success is different

5:17

for all of our partners because all of our partnerships

5:19

are truly bespoke. Before we were Ruby,

5:21

we were the custom podcast team, so everything

5:23

is really truly custom. We see

5:26

the most success with upper funnel,

5:28

so like brand awareness, shift

5:30

and perception things like that. However, there is definitely

5:33

a growing space for more

5:35

dr things like.

5:36

Actually driving sales into that nature.

5:38

We're starting to really understand that more

5:41

and where it makes sense, so we can really build

5:43

multifaceted campaign. So if

5:45

you think about it, like the podcast content itself

5:48

can talk to overarching stories,

5:50

telling deeper stories with listeners because

5:52

really the beauty of a custom podcast is

5:54

that you get to spend just an uninterrupted

5:56

time with your listeners. They get to engage

5:59

more deeply with your brand than they can in

6:01

other mediums.

6:02

But at the same time, within that

6:04

narrative.

6:05

You own all of the ad spots within the podcast

6:07

and also surrounding it, so you get to get harder

6:09

hitting messaging across or dr CTAs

6:12

things like that.

6:13

So again, multifaceted.

6:14

When we look at success, we always like to stress

6:17

to our partners that they're not buying

6:19

downloads. We actually have a really unique

6:21

business model where clients are paying zero

6:23

dollars for production, zero dollars for talent

6:25

costs, and all of their investment goes towards a

6:27

hard working media plan. So what we stress

6:30

is that the time that you actually spend with listeners

6:32

is the most valuable. So look at things like time

6:34

spent, completion rate, things like that, because

6:37

again, it's just building a connection and a communicating

6:39

with your audience. And we've had brands look

6:42

at different things. Like I said, we're really understanding

6:44

where we can do more lower funnel.

6:47

We've actually had a partnership with Mattress Firm.

6:49

The podcast was Chasing Sleep. It's probably

6:51

one of my favorites. We examined just ways

6:53

that like people with like really weird sleep schedules,

6:56

like it would be astronauts or people

6:58

who lived in like areas where it was

7:00

dark for days on end, Like how did they adjust

7:02

and what did that mean?

7:03

But the podcast actually drove a

7:05

four time return.

7:06

On the return and AdSpend and a forty

7:08

five percent lift in incremental sales, which

7:10

is incredible.

7:11

And because we know that now.

7:12

We're able to kind of bring that into our new

7:15

podcast, which is really exciting. So that wasn't

7:17

even a metric that they usually

7:19

went out to plan, but it worked around

7:21

it. So again, it just totally varies

7:23

based on our client. But the beauty of working

7:25

with Ruby that it really is a partnership from

7:27

start to finish. So we're going to have a lot

7:29

of conversations about our partners KPIs

7:32

and understand them so that we can work together

7:34

to find measurement in a way that proves that

7:36

out so that they see the success that they're looking

7:38

for.

7:38

And of course we're also going to be honest with our partners.

7:41

We're going to say, look, if this is the story that we're going to

7:43

tell, this is where we think you're going to see the most success

7:45

because we really always look for

7:47

that renewal. We always want to make sure

7:49

that we're creating successful partnerships. And

7:51

we've actually seen over a ninety one

7:54

percent renewal rate from season one to season

7:56

two, and that's because we're taking all of this into

7:58

account.

7:58

So that's a really long winded to say that successfully

8:01

varies by partners, but we'll work together to

8:03

find out what works best for you. But

8:05

that's that.

8:06

I mean, I don't know that there's a better stat

8:08

in terms of a takeaway and you

8:10

know what brands have seen with effectiveness,

8:13

that ninety one percent

8:15

renewal rate for brands going from

8:17

a season one to a season two. He's

8:20

unbelievable. What whatever those

8:22

KPIs are. I think part of what makes this work

8:24

so well too. You mentioned the team and the different

8:26

roles that people play, but we really did

8:29

want to build a team that found

8:31

this perfect meeting spot of

8:34

you know, giving brands what they're looking

8:36

for while also making sure to give listeners

8:38

and audiences what they're looking for. And

8:40

when you can find that intersection of podcasts

8:43

that of course they have the brand messaging

8:45

and of course they're trying to help the brands achieve

8:48

those KPIs, but also with the team

8:50

saying, yeah, let's make sure we're really building

8:52

something that will stick with the audience.

8:54

The shows are just fantastic, and I think that's

8:56

why we see those kinds of rates.

9:15

Let's talk about the audiences for a second.

9:17

You know, your task with finding different

9:19

audiences again, we mentioned some of those examples

9:21

before. When we think about something from you

9:24

know, Trojan to IBM to some of the

9:26

others, you know, they're obviously

9:28

very different audiences. I don't think last

9:30

I checked, they're going after the exact same audiences

9:32

between those two brands. But how do you guys think

9:34

about audiences that you're trying to reach and go

9:37

after them?

9:38

Like we said before, like that's part of like our

9:40

initial questions is like who are you trying

9:43

to reach? Because that really does determine the type

9:45

of show that we're going to produce. And I

9:47

think what we've learned, especially

9:49

recently, is that brands are starting

9:51

to shift to be more and more specialized

9:54

when it comes to those audiences. We've gone

9:56

from like really broad plays like our

9:58

team did the Game of Thrones the

10:00

Dragon Companion series, which was really

10:02

exciting and obviously that's a broad audience

10:04

that has a ton of mass appeal, including

10:06

myself. I was very excited about this one. But

10:08

we've also done in the pharma space that that's like

10:10

much more niche, much more specific,

10:13

and it's really just about again like highlighting

10:15

those stories but then really finding ways

10:17

to get in there so it just feels so

10:19

much more personal. So I think two really great

10:21

examples of that are the head Start

10:24

Embracing the Journey, which was a podcast that we really

10:26

created to build a community for those

10:28

living with chronic migraine because

10:31

you can feel really isolated when you

10:33

have these types of conditions. I believe it's something

10:35

more than fifteen days a month when

10:37

you have chronic migraines, you're just kind of debilitated

10:40

from them. So really raising up those voices

10:42

and helping people reach that community. We also

10:44

did the same with Untold Stories

10:46

Life with Mayasenia Gravis and again

10:48

sharing these stories were a priority for our

10:50

client.

10:51

It wasn't a mass play.

10:52

It was really finding those affected and

10:54

really kind of bringing them together. And

10:56

we're able to do that by just finding these voices

10:59

who are eager to share these stories. Our production

11:01

team does amazing jobs of finding these

11:03

real people who want to tell these stories. So whether

11:05

that's through social or blogs, are going to communities

11:08

or organizations that work in these space and

11:10

bringing them out to really share those stories.

11:13

And then also again working with iHeart,

11:15

you have the really great advantage of working

11:17

with the number one podcast network. So like I

11:19

mentioned, like, our custom podcasts are

11:21

built with a media plan that's specifically

11:24

created to target the audiences that are most

11:26

important, So we have the added

11:28

benefit of running tuned in spots brand messaging

11:30

across the top shows on every category,

11:33

every vertical, So no matter your audience,

11:35

we're able to reach them, and they're already

11:37

super fans of podcasting, so we're finding

11:39

them when they're already eager for more shows. So I

11:42

think it's a really great mix of just like knowing

11:44

how to create that sticky content that people

11:46

really want to listen to, but also on top of it, having

11:48

that plan to really get those listeners because

11:50

we're creating content that we're all going to be proud of,

11:52

so we want people to hear it and be

11:55

excited for more of it too.

11:56

Well.

11:56

To your point, you know, the strategy around

11:58

reaching these audiences isn't really

12:01

all that different between the Custom podcast and

12:03

every other podcast we launch. We know that

12:05

we're able to reach as people often here

12:07

nine out of ten Americans, and so we can

12:09

find those subsets that people are trying to

12:11

go after and make sure that we're reaching those,

12:13

which has been really really cool to see. Before

12:16

I ask you about any other favorites from

12:18

Ruby, I want to talk to you about grown up stuff.

12:20

This is a really cool concept that the team

12:22

came up with, and it's been fun to see

12:24

it in action, but tell us a little bit about grown up

12:27

stuff.

12:27

Yeah, so grown Up Stuff is really a first

12:29

of its kind show for our team. Typically

12:32

we're producing podcasts in partnership

12:34

with brands, so entire series

12:36

dedicated to a specific brand and the stories

12:38

that they want to tell. Grown Up Stuff is a really a great

12:41

example of how our team is working to be

12:43

more of a partner for sales but also for

12:45

brands in general.

12:46

So really offering a.

12:47

Solution that's maybe a little bit less of

12:49

a barrier for entry for some brands when it

12:51

comes to budgets, but it's really just the entire

12:53

show was created for brands in a

12:55

really brand safe environment.

12:57

So the whole show.

12:59

Is really about like discovering those parts

13:01

of adulthood that we all are pretty

13:03

unsure of. I'm speaking from experience or

13:05

also rather like a lack of experience here,

13:08

like anything you're wondering about, like folding

13:10

sheets, how do you pay for college? Things like

13:12

that, And at really every episode, our

13:14

hosts Matt and Molly, who are actually part of Relief,

13:16

talk to subject matter experts to really understand

13:19

all of those things and kind of just demystify

13:21

those elements. But it's all created so that

13:24

brands can come in and really own episodes,

13:26

So whether that's through alignment on themes,

13:28

are actually coming in and like talking specifically

13:30

about what the brand does, it's an entire show

13:33

that's really built for that, So it's super exciting.

13:35

They actually just release their first branded

13:38

episodes in partnership with Tiaa

13:40

where they talk about how you afford

13:42

college and things like that. So just really

13:44

exciting opportunity and I think when we talk

13:46

about grown up stuff, like I said, it's just a great example

13:49

of how we're trying to as Ruby as we

13:51

evolve, just be there more for brands

13:53

at every step of their entry into

13:55

the custom podcast space or the custom space.

13:58

And yeah, it's just very exciting and

14:00

we're looking forward to working more.

14:01

With brands And if you guys have any questions, feel

14:04

free to reach out.

14:05

That's fantastic. Yeah, So for anybody watching,

14:07

if there's a brand that is interested in

14:09

exploring the space, tell us how you guys

14:12

and they can get involved.

14:13

Absolutely, So feel free to reach out to

14:15

your sellers, your partners at iHeart and they'll

14:18

loop us in and we can give you more info

14:20

on the show itself. We can also talk about your

14:22

goals, what you're looking to accomplish, and how we can

14:24

really build that into a story of an

14:26

episode. What's great about Gus it's probably

14:29

the most brand friendly show because

14:31

it really is like, just whatever you guys want to

14:33

do, we'll find a way to get those story out there.

14:35

And Matt and Molly, like I said, their hosts, they're

14:37

part of Ruby, so they really understand

14:40

making great content but also how to do

14:42

that with brands first.

14:43

So yeah, it's a really great opportunity

14:45

that we're all excited about.

14:46

Well, that's fantastic. Well, congrats on everything

14:49

that the Ruby team has built and continues

14:51

to build, and the accolades

14:53

and recognition that the team has gotten for all

14:56

of these great shows. It's going to be fun watching

14:58

over the course of the next couple of years. Think, just

15:00

as we're seeing more and more brands are raising

15:02

their hands, they're seeing success in the podcast

15:05

space with their existing ad plans

15:07

and thinking, I think there's an opportunity

15:09

to take this a step further. Again,

15:11

Rachel, thanks so much for spending some time with us.

15:13

Enough.

15:14

Yeah, we look forward to talking to you again soon, and thanks

15:16

everybody for watching and listening today, We'll

15:18

be back with you next week.

15:28

Conversations is a production of iHeartRadio.

15:30

You could find more from the biggest names in podcasting

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on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get

15:35

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