Times believes that, in a market populated with shows like The New York Times’ “The Daily,” there’s an opening for a West Coast perspective.
Times spokesperson declined to provide listenership figures for that series, but the show is credited with serving as a test run for the daily news podcast, which will debut its first episode on May 3.
She said that many trends in the news and American life and politics “emerge in California first,” such as issues related to the climate, immigration and the rising influence of Asia and the Pacific and Central and South America.
While episodes are still in development, “The Times” is expected to feature a mix of conversations with reporters from the newsroom, reported pieces from the field, and interviews with newsmakers, according to Abbie Fentress Swanson, executive producer for podcasts and audio at the L.A.
Daily news is one of the most popular categories of audio shows: seven of the 20 most popular shows measured by podcast analytics service Chartable fall into this category, according to Dave Zohrob, co-founder and CEO of Chartable.
Daily news podcasts’ popularity is due to the habitual nature of this type of audio show, according to Hilary Ross, vp of podcast media at audio agency Veritone One.
While narrative podcasts can bring in ad revenue and potentially “derivative revenue” if it gets turned into a TV show, listeners may not strongly associate a show like “Dirty John” with the L.A.
Its COVID-centric podcast, “Coronavirus in California,” for example, was sponsored by Blue Shield of California.
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