With blockbuster podcasts like Alex & Sigge, Ursäkta, and When we were kings in their catalog, Perfect Day has a hard-to-beat position as podcast producers. Hannah & Amanda’s own podcast Fredagspodden has been on top of the charts since the start and attracts hundreds of thousands of listeners every month. Inspired by international entertainment stars they now launch a brand new format: the podcast channel Livetkanalen.
How would you describe Livetkanalen? How does it differ from the average podcast?
Hannah: Livetkanalen is a curated selection of podcasts released in one single feed. Historically you may have subscribed to separate podcasts, but this enables listeners to find new relevant podcasts through subscribing to one channel. Livetkanalen contains four different podcasts, each with its own sound and subject, but they all apply to the same target group. It’s a brand new format that fits perfectly for the genre podcasts.
Amanda: We have always been inspired by Oprah, who gathers different exciting subjects under one umbrella. It’s a format that enables long and deep discussions about one topic at a time, which we love. Livetkanalen is a way to convert that concept into our area of expertise – to create and develop podcasts.
What can you say about the four podcasts selected for this season?
Amanda: Touching upon everything from body and health to couples therapy, parenthood, and the everyday puzzle, they are led by both well-known podcast creators and experts on the different subjects. Par i terapi is led by Saga Israelson and Tobias Sahlin, who are therapists and also a couple. They discuss relationships from a therapeutic as well as a personal perspective. Kära barn is about parenthood and nursing. Getting Louise Hallin’s and Karolina von Heidenstam’s concrete and educational advice is very valuable for everyone with children.
Hannah: As a matter of fact, we are participating in two out of four podcasts ourselves. In Skriv ut!, Amanda investigates her hypochondria together with the doctor Olle Wallner. Familj 2.0 is led me and Clara Herngren, and we’re talking about our experiences of living in a big diverse family. These are subjects we talk about a lot in Fredagspodden and get plenty of questions about, and it feels wonderful to get the opportunity to dig deeper into them.
But Fredagspodden will remain as it is?
Amanda: No one touches Fredagspodden.
Hannah: Fredagspodden is an institution.
What are the benefits of being a part of Livetkanalen for podcast creators?
Amanda: It’s a serious commitment to record a podcast every week all year round. With this format, we get access to podcasters who don’t have that time. Take Kära barn as an example. That’s an old success we had to let down due to lack of time. It feels great to have found a context where it fits. There are also a lot of great podcasts out there that, for different reasons, don’t reach out broadly. We believe this format will add a greater variety of topics and voices to more listeners.
Hannah: We are a very extrovert and pretty insane crowd podcasting every week all year about our lives and feelings. But here we can let experts talk about the subjects they are actually experts in.
Podcast channel as a format is still very new in Sweden. Why do you think this will work?
Hannah: We know people like platforms where they are exposed to new content. As you slide into HBO or Netflix to get inspired, you will enter Livetkanalen and find podcasts you would never have found otherwise.
What does the business model look like?
Hannah: Just like our other podcasts, Livetkanalen is financed by sponsors who buy ad space. Here, though, we have a different, more exclusive setup. Instead of buying one or a few ad spots, we reach out to a couple of selected sponsors who own the whole season. In other words, all sponsors reach all podcasts, all weeks. In that way, we manage to reach the whole catalog.
Amanda: We create the ads in-house. Since our profiles record the ads themselves, as required from the customer’s brief, they turn out very personal. This season, it’s all on Hannah and me.
If you look into the future, what do you hope for this project to be?
Amanda: What is exciting about this format is that it could end up anywhere. Next season we might add more podcasts and release several episodes every week, or extend Livetkanalen to other platforms – live shows, for example. We look forward to hearing what the listeners wish more of, and to forming the channel with that in mind.
Hannah: Of course we hope for high listener numbers week by week, but we also know that many people listen to old episodes. Since the subjects are timeless, Livetkanalen will be a place where you can find content for each moment or life era.