Why Audio Documentaries Are Marketing's Untapped Goldmine
The content marketing landscape is more competitive than ever. Marketing leaders are frantically searching for new & innovative ways to create more engaging content, establish thought leadership, and get the most from their content budgets. While most brands scrap around desperately trying to make content for as many channels as they can, there has quietly been a new opportunity forming… branded audio content strategy that creates a monster piece of ‘master content’ which can be repurposed almost infinitely across all channels for well over a year.
The Audio Revolution is Here (And Most Brands Are Missing It)
Audio content consumption has exploded. Podcast listenership has seen a 54% increase in listening hours since Winter 2020, and an average weekly consumption rate of 8 hours (remember this number, it will become more relevant later). But there is a major disconnect when brands want a piece of the podcast action: audiences aren’t going on their podcast player apps to listen to brands (even the ones they like).
Brands assumed that because that’s where people are spending a lot of time, they could show up and become a part of their audiences weekly listening. This assumption has proven to be misplaced. Take a look at your own list of subscribed podcasts, how many of those are branded? Yeah.
And when you listen to many of these branded podcasts you’ll find out why this is the case. They’re not very good. We could dive into the details of why that is, but the summary is this: they aren’t podcasts people want to listen to. On the contrary, what they feel like is a podcast the brand wanted to make. With a few rare exceptions, many branded podcasts lack any sort of creativity, usual default to a 1-1 interview format, lack any real charisma from the hosts and rely on the idea that the conversations are super valuable to the industry they exist in. Maybe the content within the conversation really is valuable to the related industry, but the other 3 issues mean this value is lost.
However, it’s not all bad news. Because brands have something at their disposal that many independent podcasters do not… resources. And providing those resources are combined with creativity, then brands can actually make something that is truly worth listening to, talking about and of incredible value to the audience.
So when you consider the opportunity of audio, what’s creatively possible, and and unfair advantage with resources, and start to ask what brands can do with that, you might end up where we did… Branded Audio Documentaries. The sleeping giant of the marketing mix.
Unlike typical podcasts that require brands to commit to consistency & ongoing production costs, audio documentaries are strategic content investments that keep delivering value long after the initial release. Your brands audio documentary can be thought of as an ultimate piece of legacy brand storytelling. From which, you can fill out the rest of the year’s content calendar.
Beyond the Initial Listen: The Hidden Content Goldmine
When most brands think about podcasting, they go through the same motions: record episode, edit, release, turn that into 3 social media shorts, repeat. We’ve even spoken to brands who have told us that they weren’t bothered about someone listening to the full episode, they did it just for the social content. There was even a brief time where this kind of worked quite well. As a result, it became a playbook. And once something becomes a playbook, everyone has access to it and then it stops working. Because the real ingredient that made it work in the first place has been removed: creativity.
It’s not the repurposing a podcast is a bad idea, quite the opposite. It’s that the execution often lacks any substance and doesn’t tie in to the rest of the brand’s content strategy.
So here’s the alternative: a beautifully-crafted 6-episode audio documentary (that is most definitely worth listening to) that doesn't just give you 18 pieces of break-away content. It becomes the start of a content waterfall system that can generate 100+ connected content pieces across every marketing channel you use.
Consider what you're actually creating when you produce an audio documentary:
3+ hours of finished, polished content
15+ hours of raw interview footage with industry experts, customers & team members
Behind-the-scenes insights and stories
Data points and research findings
Expert quotes and sound bites
Narrative arcs and story frameworks
Each of these elements becomes a content seed that can grow into blog posts, social media campaigns, email sequences, video content, infographics, case studies, and more.
The ROI Reality: One Investment, Infinite Returns
Let's talk numbers. If you are to approach each of your channel individually, then content marketing requires constant inspiration, ideation and creation. Blog posts need to be written weekly (if they ever get read), social media needs god only knows what, podcasts require ongoing production costs indefinitely. The costs add up quickly, both in time and money.
By efficient utilising an audio documentary you can flip this model entirely. Instead of your team creating 50 individual pieces of content over 6 months, we create one comprehensive audio documentary and systematically repurpose it into those same 50 pieces (and much more), but with higher quality, better consistency, and a fraction of the ongoing effort.
The numbers add up:
Traditional content approach: 50 individual content creation projects = ~200+ hours of work for your team
Audio documentary approach: 1 legacy asset + systematic repurposing = ~80 hours of work from your team
But the benefits go far beyond time savings. When you repurpose audio content of this calibre, you're not just creating more content. You're creating better content. Think about it… The deep research, expert interviews, customer insights and narrative depth that goes into an audio documentary drips into every piece of derivative content.
Strategic Positioning: How Audio Documentaries Build Authority
If we zoom out and consider “what is content marketing even for?” then we realise that volume isn’t the end goal. It's much more about positioning your brand as the definitive voice in your industry. Audio documentaries can achieve this in a way that we don’t think has been fully realised yet.
When you release an audio documentary, you're not simply transferring information or talking about why you’re so great. You’re doing so much more. You’re putting yourself at the heart of the most pressing problems in your industry and helping people realise why this all matters. You create something that others in your industry cite in their content marketing. That’s tremendous clout that’s not easily achieved or replicable.
The ripple effects are significant. Every blog post or reel derived from your audio documentary carries the authority of those expert interviews. Every social media post can reference exclusive insights from industry leaders. Every email in your nurture sequence can include quotes that your competitors simply don't have access to.
This is branded audio content strategy at its most powerful. Using the medium to elevate your entire content ecosystem.
The Competitive Advantage: Why Audio Works Where Video Fails
Here’s the real kicker. The thing that makes an audio doc so compelling… How much is asks of your audience. Another way of saying that is ‘how little it asks of your audience.’ It all comes down to context. Let’s imagine your brand creates a 6 part video documentary series, lasting a total of 3 hours on Youtube. Well, good luck getting 3 hours of someone’s time on Youtube like that. It just won’t happen. Even Mr. Beast hasn’t mastered retention over 3 hours. It’s just not native to the platform.
Now let’s imagine the same length of content (6-parts, 30 minutes each, 3 hours total) in an audio format published on podcast platforms. Asking for 3 hours of a listeners time in a podcast player is a relatively small ask. Remember the average weekly consumption time from earlier? 8 hours. This is how you can work with platform psychology rather than against it.
The Strategic Investment That Keeps Paying Dividends
Most marketing investments depreciate quickly. A blog post gets traffic for a few weeks. A social media campaign runs its course in days. But audio documentaries are a rare bread in that they're brand storytelling assets that appreciate over time.
The initial interviews become more valuable as your industry evolves. The insights become reference points for others in your industry. The expert relationships turn into ongoing partnerships. And the repurposed content continues to drive engagement, leads, and brand recognition long after the documentary itself has been published.
For founders, marketing leaders and content strategists that feel like they’re drowning in a sea of playbooks & best practices while looking to get the most from your resources, this new and innovative format might just be the breath of fresh air you need.
We don’t believe the question is whether audio documentaries will become a standard part of brand communication strategies. The real question is whether you'll be ahead of the curve or playing catch-up.
If you want an idea of just how much content you can get from creating an audio documentary, our Content Waterfall Calculator below shows you the precise breakdown of how a 6-episode audio documentary (3 hours of finished content + 15 hours of raw footage) translates into months of multichannel content.
Data sources: https://www.adtonos.com/new-uk-audio-listening-trends-rajar-midas-insights/
