Why Audio Documentaries Are Marketing's Untapped Goldmine
The content marketing landscape is more competitive than ever. And by ‘competitive’ we mean ‘full of absolute nonsense & grift’. Marketing leaders are frantically searching for innovative ways to create engaging content, establish thought leadership, and get the most from their ever-shrinking budgets.
Most brands are stuck in the inevitable cycle: chasing trends, fragmenting their resources across too many channels, and endlessly producing content that evaporates in seconds. It’s expensive, exhausting, and rarely builds long-term brand equity. Not to mention that it often just feels a bit icky to be a part of. That’s the feeling of compromise.
But what if, instead of being like everyone else & running faster on the content treadmill, you built something that created momentum?
Enter: branded audio content strategy. Specifically, audio documentaries. A strategic, story-driven legacy asset that acts as a V8-sized monster content engine* for your brand.
*EV’s are also available.
The Audio Revolution is Here (And Most Brands Are Missing It)
Audio content consumption has quietly exploded. Since Winter 2020, podcast listening hours have increased by 54%, with the average listener clocking 8 hours per week (remember this number, it will become more relevant later). But there’s a catch: brands haven’t figured out how to leverage this attention
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 a bit… lacklustre. With a few rare exceptions (The Sauce, DISH, The Message) , many branded podcasts have the same flaws:
Lacking any sort of creativity
Defaulting to generic interview formats
Are void of any real charisma from the hosts
They also tend to 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 a poor listening experience means that value gets lost. 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.
The Hidden Advantage Brands Already Have
However, it’s not all bad news. Because brands have something at their disposal that many independent podcasters do not… resources. Budget, people, access, distribution channels. And providing those resources are combined with creativity, then brands can actually make something that is truly worth listening to, worth sharing, and genuinely valuable.
That’s where branded audio documentaries come in. 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 an episode → Edit it → Publish it → Chop it up into 3 social clips → 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. But execution often lacks strategy and cohesion with the rest of the brand’s content plan.
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 channel you use.
What does a branded audio documentary actually produce?
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
Customer success stories and use cases
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, in both 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 ROI 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 actually 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 IP and reference points 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 derivative blog post or email carries the weight of those expert insights. Every quote has exclusivity. Every touchpoint reinforces your credibility.
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 it 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. Even with a budget and fanfare, expecting someone to watch 3 hours of video is a tough sell. It’s not native to how people consume YouTube. Even MrBeast can’t hold viewers for that long.
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.
It’s low-friction, passive, repeatable engagement.
The Strategic Investment That Keeps Paying Dividends
Most marketing assets depreciate fast:
A blog post gets buried
A tweet dies in a day
A campaign burns out
But an audio documentary is a rare breed of content that appreciates.
Interviews become more valuable as your industry evolves
Insights gain depth with time
Expert relationships evolve into collaborations
Raw footage continues to generate new ideas
Repurposed content keeps driving leads and authority
It becomes a legacy asset. Something your brand is known for. Referenced. Reshared. Reused.
Be Ahead of the Curve, Not Catching Up
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.
Want to See How Much Content You Can Actually Get From One Audio Documentary?
Try our Repurposing Calculator below.
See how a 6-episode branded audio documentary (3 hours of finished content + 15 hours of raw footage) transforms into months of high-impact, multichannel content.
Data sources: https://www.adtonos.com/new-uk-audio-listening-trends-rajar-midas-insights/
