Overview of this campaign

The "Dirty John" podcast marketing campaign centered around captivating the attention of true crime fans, Los Angeles Times readers and beyond. This story of a strange Newport Beach, California mystery caught the attention of 11-year Times' veteran Christopher Goffard and became a natural candidate for LA Times' first ambitious podcast. The main objectives were to create excitement around the launch of the podcast, drive and sustain listeners, and build a strong fanbase in the process.

Results for this campaign

The series teaser campaign began on 9.18.17 and ran through 9.30.17 and launched on 10.1.17, and the podcast quickly became a worldwide obsession. Success metrics include:

The story in LA Times newspaper garnered the most unique visitors of any LA Times story in 2016 and 2017, with 8.9M page views and 3.8M visits

Over 20k LA Times newsletter sign ups

All six episodes of the podcast reached the top 10 simultaneously and spent three weeks at #1 on Apple Podcasts chart

For the first time ever in Apple Podcast history, Apple dedicated a full takeover of the featured flicker tiles

Over 14 million total podcast listens (and counting)

1 million podcast listens were earned in the first four days of the launch

The series generated over 2 million social media impressions

Numerous press accolades from media outlets such as The New Yorker, Bustle, Glamour, Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, CNN, Rolling Stone, Mashable and The New York Times (ex. "Dirty John" one of the top 10 Best Podcasts of 2017 – Entertainment Weekly) 

The New Yorker described "Dirty John" as 'a kind of journalism noir, blending entertainment and news in powerful, sometimes (in) unnerving ways.'

Organic pick-up by other media outlets such as Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Podbay

Contact

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