T Brand Studio and American Express Podcast Tops Apple Podcast Charts

This June, American Express and The News York Times' T Brand Studio launched a six-part branded podcast series focused on small businesses, called The Next Chapter by American Express Business Class, a series that made it to number one in Apple's Careers Podcast chart for most of the last week of June. The Next Chapter is hosted by Cardiff Garcia, former co-host of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money podcast. In The Next Chapter, Garcia interviews best-selling business authors like Angela Duckworth and Luvvie Ajayi Jones discussing their career trajectories and offering inspiration to listeners looking to build their businesses. The show takes the form of a book club and provokes each guest with the question: What would the next chapter of your book be about? "We recognize how competitive the podcast market is and knew we had to do something extraordinary if we were going to really break through," said Amex executive vice president of global b-to-b marketing Clayton Ruebensaal. The Great Resignation is spurring a growth spurt in small businesses. According to data from The Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics, 5 million new businesses launched between January to November of 2021, a 55% jump from that same time period in 2019. In July, between the first episode and the fourth, The Next Chapter series saw a 111% increase in listenership across various streaming platforms. The companies would not share specific numbers. Aside from the content, a key ingredient to that growth is T Brand's social distribution plan, said Ruebensaal. T Brand's custom audio ads and on-site display units, Flex Frames, drive listeners to tune in. Show promotions are also placed on other NYT podcasts. According to T Brand Studios, 30-second custom audio spots promoting The Next Chapter are placed in shows like The Daily, The Book Review and The Ezra Klein Show. On social, The Next Chapter is boosted via Instagram through posts with audio quotes and sound bites from episodes of the show. Its latest episode Instagram promotion video on T Brand's account with guest Priya Parker, author of the Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, accumulated nearly 10,000 views just a day after the episode aired. The Next Chapter is number 24 on Apple Podcast's Business chart, According to Amex. Ruebensaal told Adweek that 60% of Amex's target audience of small business owners are listening to podcasts. As such, 40% tune in weekly and over half are listening to podcasts focused on small business-like content, added Ruebensaal. Ruebensaal told Adweek Amex plans to renew the current series after evaluating listener feedback from throughout this season. For Amex's podcast Business Class: Build it Braver, launched in September 2021, 16% of listeners were more likely to agree with the statement that "American Express provides helpful information to small and medium-sized businesses" compared to those who did not listen, according to an Amex survey. State of the Sound: How the Media Industry Grapples With Audio Accessibility

Business Podcasts

T Brand Studio and American Express Podcast Reaches No. 1 in the Apple Careers Podcast Chart

The Next Chapter saw a 111% increase in listenership between its first and fourth episode

Meseret Ambachew

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Meseret Ambachew