What it takes to run a podcast consulting company

Branded podcasts are on the rise. With one out of every four Americans saying they listen to at least one podcast a month, companies are increasingly incorporating the medium into their content marketing strategies, and in some cases these branded podcasts are really taking off with listeners.

The first major success of a branded podcast was The Message, a joint venture between the Panoply Network and GE. The science fiction serial has generated over 8 million downloads and, during its run, stayed at the top of the iTunes charts.

Gimlet Media, one of the largest and most well-funded podcast networks, recently launched its branded content studio Gimlet Creative, and it’s since created narrative podcasts for Tinder and eBay. Suddenly, there’s strong demand for people who can leverage their podcast expertise to help companies launch podcasts that their target consumers will actually want to listen to.

One of those people is Ernesto Gluecksmann. Ernesto is the co-founder of Human Factor Media, a podcast consulting company that works with associations to launch and produce podcasts. I recently interviewed Ernesto about how he launched the company and what makes for a successful branded podcast.