“Audiohuis Podcastnetwerk must be the one-stop shop for reaching Dutch podcast listeners”
NRC Media aims to become the authority on podcasting in the Netherlands. To pursue this objective, it is introducing the Audiohuis Podcastnetwerk this week. With this broad-based network, it will offer advertisers positions not only on NRC’s podcasts, but also on podcasts from other brands, such as De Stroom, FC Afkicken and the international Podwave.
NRC has embraced the podcast. The medium aligns seamlessly with our brand of in-depth journalism and the intellectual need of the inquisitive target audience for in-depth reporting. That the strategy fits is reflected by the listenership figures: NRC Media has been at the top of the ranking since NLO published the podcast and audio-on-demand figures last summer. Currently, the media company has three podcasts in the top 10, with NRC Vandaag as the undisputed list-topper and thus the most popular podcast in the Netherlands. The 13 NRC podcasts are downloaded 770,000 times a week. Commercial director Madelon Fortuin is proud of the Zilveren Reissmicrofoon, a prestigious radio award, which NRC Media became the first-ever non-broadcasting company to receive in 2021 for its NRC podcast productions.
Rapid ground gain
To further commercialise the successes, the Audiohuis Podcastnetwerk is now being launched. Fortuin: “Building on the success, last year we laid out the ambition to become the podcasting authority in the Netherlands in terms of quality, creativity, effectiveness, but also reach.” She attributes the rapid ground gain in the medium to bold action. “While our roots lie deep in the 19th century, we are pioneering and innovative. We’re not an unwieldy organisation; when we say something, we back it up with action.”
To broaden its podcast reach, NRC Media entered into joint ventures with FC Afkicken (sports) and De Stroom (younger subcultures). “We believe in the power of communities around these shows and personalities, which enable strong cross-media concepts to be developed. This has opened doors to other target audiences, and thus other advertisers and sponsors.”
In the ears
Listeners already know how to find NRC Media, as do advertisers; the advertising positions for NRC’s podcasts are fully occupied. Branded content productions are also increasingly being made in cooperation with the advertiser. The experience that Fortuin and her team have gained here can also be applied elsewhere. “What applies to our brand also applies to advertisers: wanting to be where the consumer is. With high engagement. So that a close relationship can be established between brand and consumer. Moreover, audio-on-demand brings you in contact with consumers at different times than you usually are through visual media, such as the newspaper or nrc.nl.” Media strategist Arne Stierman adds: “Very specific to podcast advertising is the intimacy; you are literally in the listener’s ears.”
Qualitative and quantitative boost
To give a qualitative and quantitative boost to its reach, NRC Media is currently in the process of launching the Audiohuis Podcastnetwerk. Besides advertising positions for NRC brand podcasts, it also sells positions before, during and after podcasts from other brands, such as De Stroom, FC Afkicken and PodWave. Podwave was launched in 2018 by leading digital audio ad serving company AdsWizz. NRC Media is PodWave’s exclusive partner in the Netherlands. The enormous network, with some nine million advertising positions, represents over ten thousand international podcasts. Podcast publishers such as Spreaker, Audioboom and Adelicious are part of this network.
Fortuin: “By pooling our content with that of De Stroom, FC Afkicken and PodWave in Audiohuis Podcastnetwerk, we offer the most varied network for standardised advertising positions during and after podcasts. We want to be the one-stop shop to reach the Dutch podcast listener in the most versatile way possible.”
