London Evening Standard announces fresh podcasts for 2022 after major audio growth last year
The Evening Standard, one of London’s best known news brands, has today announced a new podcast offering for 2022. It comes after a very successful year in audio for the organisation, and after the Evening Standard’s sister magazine, ES, unveiled a new look and identity.
The three new productions launching in early 2022 are:
- ‘An Invitation to Meet…’: A weekly 30-minute business podcast hosted by David Marsland, featuring exclusive conversations with some of the most influential people in the world’s best city for business. The first episode, featuring Coutts & Co CEO, Peter Flavel, kicked off in January. Other guests since the launch have included entrepreneur and founder of notonthehighstreet.com, Holly Tucker MBE and Des Gunewardena, CEO of D&D restaurants.
- ‘ES History of London’: An immersive docuseries that will explore ES archives, front pages and more, telling the stories that have made London the city it is today.
- ‘Evening Standard Rugby Podcast’, supported by Fuller’s London Pride, official beer of Premiership Rugby: Launching yesterday, England Rugby World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio is helming a weekly rugby podcast sponsored by London Pride, the official beer of Gallagher Premiership Rugby. Dallaglio will host 26 episodes across the season, including guests from across the sport as well as celebrities and a member of Standard Sport’s editorial team. The series will feature a special live recording from the Premiership Final at Twickenham on 18th June. You can listen to the first episode here.
Audio has been an area of emphatic success for The Evening Standard, as the brand has sought to fuse its journalistic heritage with a commitment to the best of innovation and creativity on the internet. The Evening Standard’s audio team works closely with Acast to develop offerings that reach hard-to-hit audiences.
The Evening Standard’s total podcast audience has grown 190 per cent since January 2021, fuelled by series including ‘Tech and Science Daily’, a seven-minute bulletin featuring the need-to-know science and tech stories of the day, and ‘The Leader’, a daily 10-minute update in which The Evening Standard’s journalists, editors and columnists take audiences through the day’s events, helping them make sense of what’s happening during extraordinary times.
The Evening Standard’s podcasts received over half a million monthly listens last year, with ‘Tech and Science Daily’ becoming Spotify’s most listened-to daily British tech show. In 2020, The Evening Standard’s ‘Women Tech Charge’ podcast was nominated for a prestigious Webby Award, while ‘Tech and Science Daily’ was Highly Commended at the Press Awards in 2021.
David Marsland, Head of Audio at The Evening Standard, commented: “With our acclaimed, chart-topping series and strong partnership with Acast, The Evening Standard is a true innovator in podcasting. After enjoying an outstanding year of growth within our podcast division, we are capitalising on these successes to further strengthen the Evening Standard’s position as a leading player in the audio content space. Signing up talent like Lawrence Dallaglio and developing partnerships with exciting brands like London Pride demonstrates the pull of the Evening Standard’s podcast offering and reflects our intention to continue making big waves in this field. This fresh slate of podcasts for 2022 reflects our commitment to producing informative, entertaining and high-quality content for our audiences in London and beyond.”