The founders of Earios want to create a podcast network “by women, for everyone.”
Only 22 percent of podcasts are hosted by women, and an additional 11 percent have a woman as a co-host. As veterans of the entertainment industry and seasoned podcasters, founders Maria Blasucci, Amanda Lund and Priyanka Mattoo realised that all major podcast networks that host, develop and promote popular podcasts are run by men. As a result, it’s harder for women to find networks that connect with their ideas. Similarly, ad sales companies often have advertisements “targeted at women with no place to put them,” as Priyanka told TechCrunch.
After encountering a few too many gatekeepers while trying to pitch their latest podcast, Maria and Amanda decided to take matters into their own hands, later bringing Priyanka on board to help with execution.
“It got to the point where it felt like pitching a television show, and podcasts never seemed like that to us,” Maria told Vulture. “We’d been doing it for a while. […] So we thought, We’ve been told no so many times in our lives. Why don’t we just start a network of our own where we can be the ones making the decisions here?”
In 2018, the initiative raised over $26,000 on Kickstarter, and the first podcasts from the network debuted in July 2019. The company plans to launch at least 12 shows this year on Apple, Stitcher and Spotify, with four during the first week alone. Some of the upcoming shows will feature entertainers such as comedian Margaret Cho and musician Feist.
Compared to independently run podcasts, those that are managed through a network benefit from a variety of resources and services that are generally inaccesible to the podcasting novice, the trio explained to Vulture. Development, providing recording infrastructure, editing clients’ projects, helping people structure their ideas for the show, ad sales promotion and monetisation, distribution and helping the podcast be the best that it can be are just a few of the ways that podcast network can benefit creators.
“So we’re giving this support — the same tender loving care to each one of these shows that we’ve given to our own shows — that we have never had help with,” Amanda said. “So just having a group of people that want to support you, just with the tech aspect of podcasting. Then helping with every step of the way. And then after we launch, helping with promotion, all that stuff is really valuable. That’s why people want to be on a network.”
As the content of the podcasts is “for everyone” and not only women (although the hosts will be women), Priyanka assures that Earios will not be the “Lifetime of podcast networks.” The company is open to all genres, including “true crime” and fictional series of podcasts.
