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Once the archetypal newsletter-centric publisher, theSkimm today announced its latest plans to evolve beyond email.
The publisher is launching its third podcast, a free, weekly product called Pop Cultured, which will release 30-minute episodes every Tuesday that offer a nuanced exploration of the buzziest pop culture items of the week. Helmed by veteran producer Bridget Armstrong, the first episode will examine the dual Covid-19 and #MeToo controversies surrounding Nicki Minaj and her husband, situating the events amidst the backdrop of the challenges Black women face in navigating sexual violence.
The first four episodes will be sponsored by Gevalia, though theSkimm declined to offer financial specifics. As previously reported, the 130-person company generated $20 million in revenue in 2019 and is on pace to double that number by the end of the year.
The podcast also marks the first major product launch under the tenure of its new editor in chief, Niven McCall-Mazza, who has worked for theSkimm for more than four years. The publisher has operated without an editorial figurehead since its inception in 2012, but its growing size and stable of products convinced founders Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin to elevate McCall-Mazza to the position. She began the role officially on Oct. 1.
The appointment of McCall-Mazza and the launch of Pop Cultured both reflect a symbolic evolution of theSkimm, whose target audience, millennial women, has grown older since the first Skimm newsletter hit inboxes nearly a decade ago. The continued forays into audio represent an effort to meet their readership where they are, McCall-Mazza told Adweek, as nearly 63% of millennial women listen to podcasts.
“Our mission has always been to help millennial women live smarter,” McCall-Mazza said. “Pop Cultured is a great example of the way theSkimm has grown, as well as the kind of conversations we want to have with our audience.”
Evolving into audio
The similarities between podcasts and newsletters have encouraged a number of email-centric publishers to lean into the audio format, including recently Quartz and Bloomberg Media. Both mediums encourage an emphasis on personality, depth of subject and relationship-building, and their direct, routine distribution allows them to sidestep the fickle visibility of algorithm-based platforms.
TheSkimm launched its first podcast, then called Skimm’d from the Couch, in March 2018, which it rebranded in July as 9 to 5ish. In March 2019, it launched Skimm This, a weekly news podcast.
Since the rebrand of 9 to 5ish, the podcast has grown its audience by 30%, and Skimm This has grown 25% in the same period, according to the publisher. Across all of its platforms, theSkimm reaches 12 million people monthly, more than 7 million of which are subscribers to the Daily Skimm.
‘Recognizing who we are today’
The expansion of its audio presence has arrived as the growth of its newsletter reach has slowed; the Daily Skimm has claimed its 7 million readers for more than three years. With the introduction of podcasts, the publisher gains a way to double-dip on the attention of its existing fans and potentially reach audiences averse to consuming newsletters.
From a strategic perspective, theSkimm hopes its growing roster of podcasts and the appointment of its first editor in chief will help to better communicate its editorial breadth, McCall-Mazza said.
“We are incredibly proud of our Daily Skimm newsletter––that’s where I started as an editor,” McCall-Mazza said. “But we do more than that: We have a Skimm Money newsletter, a Skimm Your Life newsletter, an app, podcasts, books. The shift is more about recognizing who we are today.”
