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The Binge, Sony Music Entertainment’s subscription-based podcast channel, is seeing early signs of success in the short few months that it’s been live.
The Binge releases one docuseries each month, bundled from SME’s roster of podcasts, ranging from genres like true crime to entertainment. For instance, in the series Crooked City, each season explores eerie cities like Emerald Triangle and mob-ridden Ohio town Youngston, a 15-episode series.
The Binge rose to the third most popular subscription channel in the U.S. and Canada in August, per Apple Podcasts, two months after launch. The channel is now the No. 7 subscriber channel on Apple Podcast.
Beyond that, The Binge is averaging 25% subscriber growth month over month, according to SME, it wouldn’t share specific numbers. A subscription starts at $4.99 monthly.
“When there’s a cliffhanger and something you want to dive into, you’re willing to stay up till two in the morning, whether that’s watching it or listening to it,” said Sony Music senior vice president of podcast business development & operations Emily Rasekh. “With the new subscription tools within the Apple ecosystem and elsewhere, that’s the behavior that we’re feeding into and experimenting with,” Rasekh told Adweek.
Sony Music Podcasts is a division of Sony Music Entertainment and was launched in 2019. According to Rasekh, the podcast division is forecasted to almost double the number of active shows, it will distribute nearly 50 new and ongoing shows next year. As well as its subscription channel The Binge, it monetizes podcasts through advertising.
According to Sony, the company outpaced its last fiscal year’s ad revenue by nearly 35%.
The large majority of podcasts are being monetized by advertising, but more evidence of people paying for podcasts is growing. Paid Apple Podcast subscriptions grew by 300% in a year, according to a report in August. While reports suggest podcast ad revenue will remain unaffected by macroeconomic conditions, companies like Spotify took a hit in its third-quarter earnings in 2022 and big media heads like CNN and Amazon are cutting their audio staff.
“We’re seeing more and bigger brands looking at the opportunities beyond just standard mid-roll ad slots, whether it be branded podcast themselves,” said Sony Music’s vice president of podcast sales, Nick Southwell-Keely.
According to Sony, 2022 global downloads across its network year to date are nearly 40% higher than the similar timeframe for 2021. Global downloads across its podcasts grew by over 89% from 2020 to 2022.
Rasekh told Adweek that recently it’s taking a more familiar personality-based approach, primarily through women’s voices.
“There’s certainly a bit of a sub-focus on female voices and female audiences,” added Rasekh.
In early November, the network launched High Low with EmRata hosted by model Emily Ratajkowski, a podcast that digs into cultural topics like politics, feminism and sex. According to Rasekh, a free episode will air each week on top of a bonus episode that will drop each week.
A week prior the network launched They Did That in partnership with Sony’s U.K. content company acquired in 2021, Somethin’ Else, known for being one of BBC’s biggest producers. Freelance journalist Takara Small explores people who have made history from underrepresented groups like women, people of color and LGBTQ+.
