How do you attract a younger, often news-avoidant audience when you’re the country’s largest digital news business? New Zealand’s Stuff Group did just that — with a daily audio product that’s as addictive as it is essential.

Stuff Group found its podcast groove relatively early. In 2020, its true-crime thriller Black Hands became a global sensation, and with close to 8 million downloads, it continues to find new fans. A string of other award-winning long-form podcasts followed, and by 2023, the country’s largest digital news platform was ready to launch a much bigger audio business.

What it wanted was a flagship daily news show. The challenge Stuff Audio set for itself was to attract a younger, often news-avoidant audience with a news experience like no other that combined social media, digital and print articles, the daily show, vertical video, and news-driven specials, creating a standalone, brand-led new vertical.

Creating a standalone news ecosystem

Newsable launched in March 2023 with a focus on the often hard-to-reach 25-40 age group. Intentionally fun and quirky but with all of the essential news the audience needed, the 20-minute podcast dropped at 6 a.m. each day, followed by articles, the vertical video format Stuff Shorts, social media posts, and teasers for the show delivered across Stuff’s large brand portfolio of digital mastheads, magazines, newspapers, and community platform Neighbourly.

“We really wanted a refreshing alternative to traditional news formats,” explained Laura Heathcote, Stuff’s head of audio. “From our bold brand design to our social approach and the stories we selected, we ensured we had leadership and input at every stage from Gen Z.”

The tagline was simple — Newsable would be all about what everyone’s talking about.

Immediate impact

From day one, Newsable was news that had not been heard before. Guests could be the prime minister or a celebrity comedian, linked by hard news, human interest, pop culture, analysis, and hot takes.

The hosts were Gen Z journalists hired for their approachability. The power of Stuff’s multi-platforms, including stuff.co.nz, which has the largest news audience in New Zealand, created an immediate buzz. The listeners were the exact demographic Newsable was aiming for.

According to Spotify, 45% of Newsable’s audience is aged 18-34, a truly young audience attracted by Newsable’s mix of personality, humour, and hard news. Breaking news became some of the podcast’s most popular listens: the team developed a strategy to deliver fast-twitch bonus shortcasts when significant live news events were happening, from election results to major court cases and sporting finals.

The accompanying text stories and short-form videos also brought in millions of views, and Stuff’s vast network of journalists used the podcast to highlight their own exclusives and interviews.

On Apple’s podcast platform, Newsable was No. 1 in the Apple new category, No. 2 in Apple Daily News, and reached No. 3 overall.

“This is an audience that loves innovation, surprise, and delight as well as an intelligent take on the news,” Heathcote said. “What’s great about Newsable is that we are constantly looking for the new. Standing still is not an option, which is as much fun for us as it is for the audience.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .