His daily podcast got 5 million downloads in its first year

If you’re in the media, then you’re probably aware of The Daily, the massively successful podcast produced by The New York Times. It now receives over 4 million downloads a day and generates eight figures in revenue for the newspaper.

But is it possible to replicate The Daily’s success without the institutional support? That’s the question Jamie East set out to answer. A year ago, he and a few colleagues launched The Smart 7, a 7-minute podcast that’s published each weekday at 7 a.m. Its relatively simple format and consistency made it easy for listeners to build it into their daily habits, and within its first year it hit five million downloads.

I recently interviewed Jamie about why he struck off into indie podcasting when he already had a successful career in traditional broadcasting, and he explained how he plans to build an entire network of niche daily podcasts.