The world didn’t need another podcast, but the Irish Independent believed it could offer something different.

Ireland is a sports-mad country. Our culture is partly built around Gaelic football and hurling, while our soccer players, rugby squad, golfers and athletes are national heroes.

For 120 years, the Irish Independent has followed their highs and lows in print and, more recently, online. But as the media landscape changes we need to bring our brand to a new, younger audience. 

Built on the success of Mediahuis Ireland’s growing podcast network, particularly that of the award-winning Indo Daily, we set about providing a comparable audio offering for sports fans.

Taking the sports page to the air

The concept of Indo Sport was in play for a year before it came to fruition. The plan was not to rush out a new podcast but rather to curate a quality offering that could create a buzz about itself.

This came at a time when our sports department was already undergoing a significant reorganisation to become digital-facing. Resources were redirected, and in particular, we wanted to turn some print journalists into podcast regulars — a completely new role for some.

Indo Sport was born as a free, daily sports podcast that lands Monday to Friday in time for listeners’ commute home. We were the first newspaper in Ireland to launch in this space. As part of our growth strategy based on sponsorship, the show is not behind a paywall.

For the podcast to be a success, we needed to achieve three aims:

• Develop a quality show with high production values that enhances our already strong reputation for sports coverage.
• Create broad awareness among our existing print/online audience, but more importantly, among sports enthusiasts who may never come to our written products.
• Quickly gain interest among potential commercial partners.

Key to this was the recruitment of a well-known host. This was the first time the Irish Independent actively sought to build a brand around a personality. The revelation that Joe Molloy, a seven-time sports broadcaster of the year, was leaving radio to join a “newspaper” became a significant talking point on social media and in the industry.

Setting the tone, many of our early episodes became “must listen to” as guests delved into personal stories that went much deeper than their feats in the sporting arena.

Turning enthusiasm into advertising

All of this created an enthusiasm which allowed our B2C team to start pitching to potential sponsors. To maximise revenue streams, it was decided to sell the partnerships based on individual sports rather than just have a singular sponsor.

We now have three major deals locked in. Energy company Energia is the sponsor of rugby content. TV station Sky Sports is linked to football, and one of the country’s biggest banks, AIB, is sponsoring GAA pods.

Live podcasts offer another revenue opportunity; our first event was attended by nearly 1,000 people, with tickets priced at €23. 

The newsroom has embraced the project, with high-profile sports pundits happily participating in shows and some of our lesser-known names proving they have a lot to bring to the format. And we regularly hit the No. 1 spot on both Apple and Spotify.

As Indo Sport celebrated its first birthday at the end of September, it hit highs of more than 200,000 downloads in a week.

Although it is a podcast, it is not an audio-only product. We quickly realised there is a separate and distinct audience who want to watch the podcast online. Episodes have amassed 1.7 million views on YouTube (nearly 20% of that audience watches on their TV later in the evening between 8 and 10 p.m.).

We have also garnered more than 13 million short-form views, including on Facebook (6.5 million), TikTok (4.4 million), and Instagram (1.9 million). 

While there are obvious challenges, including the fact that most Indo Sport content is consumed on third-party platforms, there is no doubt that the podcast has made a major impact in a very short period, both with the audience and the advertisers.

We are now reaching a sports audience that doesn’t traditionally read newspapers and building the trust of another generation for the Irish Independent.

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