Laura Terberl From the SZ: “Practical For The Rush Hour Of Life”

Ms. Terberl, what is currently #1 on your podcast playlist?

Laura Terberl: I got a tip from a colleague that I really like: “Wiser than me” with Julia Dreyfus. (Editor's note: the actress interviews her older, wiser colleagues every week). Then I listen to a lot of leadership topics, such as the Better Leaders podcast by Anita Zielina and PodTalk by OMR. I listened to “Putin's War on the Net” from Der Spiegel and “The Rest is History” from Deutschlandfunk.

Why is audio booming?

Terberl: We are becoming more and more aware of how often we look at our cell phones. How much screen time we have and how busy we are at the same time. We realize that people find it convenient to listen to podcasts when they are doing something else. When they're driving to work or cleaning the apartment. Many parents also listen to us when they put the kids to bed and then sit next to the bed until the child falls asleep. Situations in which screens are less suitable, but podcasts are a good fit. They are more personalized and more on-demand than radio.

As a largely text-based product, we naturally have customers who generally don't listen to podcasts and prefer to absorb information by reading. For people who are in the rush hour of life, podcasts are simply practical. They feel connected to the hosts, this parasocial relationship is stronger than with text. I believe that this is another reason why podcasts are becoming increasingly popular.

SZ podcast strategy: The right topics and a three-pillar model

Which topics are suitable for podcasts?

Terberl: It's not that easy. With Wirecard, for example, we were even rather skeptical at first: we knew we couldn't talk to Marsalek himself, we couldn't talk to Braun, we had to use many representatives as protagonists.

We think carefully beforehand about whether a story will last for many episodes. What possibilities there are to create an arc of suspense. Whether a cliffhanger works in the first episode. Have we found out something new? Can we tell something bigger about our society with the story? Is there a relevance that goes beyond the actual story? This worked very well for Wirecard. Although Marsalek is not heard in the on, the story always revolves around him as a mysterious antagonist.

If a story has too many different aspects, you have to be careful whether the storyline is still straight. You can't lose sight of where the journey is actually supposed to go. So we always ask ourselves whether it's just an interesting topic or a really exciting story.

What works best? Series, monothematic or news?

Terberl: Our podcast strategy is based on three pillars: Free podcasts appear on all platforms. Our goal here is reach. We want to reach as many people as possible, as many target groups as possible, and try to finance this through advertising marketing. Formats such as “Auf den Punkt” work very well. The news podcast is listened to very ritualized every day. Then we do paid commissioned productions and work with other platforms such as Spotify. With the SZ-Plus podcasts, our goal is to attract new subscribers to the SZ-Plus subscription. We realize, for example, that a cliffhanger in episode 1 is very important.

Laura Terberl: Building reach only works with staying power

Let's talk about money. Is it worth it?

Terberl: We don't just evaluate success in financial terms. This is more difficult to determine with our free formats. We have a clear profitability calculation for commissioned productions. With our SZ-Plus podcasts, we count the conversions; here we rely on existing customer care and new subscribers. We definitely notice that our podcasts have an effect, that they contribute to our goals. So far, we are very satisfied with the performance. But you definitely need staying power. Podcasts rarely go viral. If you want to build up reach quickly, you're better off with video. With podcasts, the curve doesn't rise steeply, but steadily. It takes time for a successful podcast channel to become a platform in its own right on which it is worth cross-promoting other products.

What role do podcasts play in SZ's strategy?

Terberl: Our main goal is to attract more subscribers to SZ-Plus. We want to retain our existing subscribers and reach new, younger target groups. With podcasts, we are seeing that our users are younger than with other SZ products and that they increasingly know us through podcasts. Of course, I'm delighted when we've been able to establish initial brand contact. Internally, we are in close contact with our print and digital colleagues. We receive many suggestions for topics, especially from the investigative team. For the larger documentaries, we closely involve the experts from the specialist departments in the scripting process.

What happens next?

Terberl: We still have two documentaries in the pipeline that we will publish in the course of the year. We are considering whether we want to expand our free area. Compared to our competitors, we have a rather small portfolio. And we are looking into what we could do with additional cooperation partners. I see potential in history topics. There is already a lot out there. But I think we could still make a difference here with dramaturgical means and high-quality production. I would also like to experiment with faster formats that lie somewhere between interviews and elaborate storytelling. We already have a few ideas, but unfortunately I can't reveal any more yet.