Midroll Media Names Chris Bannon as Chief Content Officer
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 18, 2015 -- Midroll Media, the leading digital media company providing a 360-degree suite of podcast production, distribution, and monetization services to artists, entertainers, and thought leaders, announces the hire of Chris Bannon as its new Chief Content Officer. This new position was created to accelerate the development of original, entertaining, and innovative podcast programming, while expanding the breadth of the podcast audience.
Bannon comes from WNYC / New York Public Radio where he served as Vice President for Content Development and Production. There he led the development of Freakonomics Radio and oversaw some of the most successful programs in public radio, including the Peabody Award-winning Leonard Lopate Show and The Brian Lehrer Show, in addition to Soundcheck, Studio 360, and Here’s The Thing with Alec Baldwin. Bannon’s previous credits include work on a variety of national radio shows, including Here and Now, Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? and A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.
Bannon also brings with him a strong record of audience and network development. From 2006 to 2012 he was Program Director for the most listened-to public radio stations in the US, WNYC AM and FM, where he also launched the WQXR classical music station and New Jersey Public Radio.
"This is a great opportunity for anyone who loves audio. Although I’ve spent many years in radio and podcasting, the recent surge of public interest in this medium is truly exciting,” said Bannon. “I look forward to working with Midroll's smart, strategic, and passionate staff to explore new frontiers in audio entertainment, while helping their roster of great shows expand and find new audiences."
Growth-Fueled Advances, Including a NYC Production Studio
Midroll Media is the industry leader in podcast production and monetization, and is the parent company of the Earwolf and Wolfpop podcast networks. Bannon joins the company at a moment of unprecedented momentum for both Midroll Media and the medium of podcasting. In the last twelve months, amidst increased attention and listenership for podcasting, Midroll Media launched twelve all-new shows, nine of which are part of the company's second network, Wolfpop, that debuted in November 2014.
Midroll now represents more than 200 podcasts to advertisers, including shows on its owned-and-operated Earwolf and Wolfpop networks along with other popular off-network favorites like StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Nerdist. Combined, podcast-hungry listeners downloaded these programs 300 million times in 2014.
In addition to an unprecedented growth of audience, the company also is reporting an increase in overall revenue year-over-year. In 2014 sales were three times that of 2013, and, at the midway point in February, figures for the first quarter of 2015 are maintaining that aggressive pace of growth.
"With our roots in Earwolf, Midroll has always been a ‘content first’ company, but we’ve never had a Chief Content Officer. Our strategy has always been, and continues to be, working with the best talent to help them create the most engaging and entertaining podcasts. We are excited to have a seasoned content specialist like Chris join our team to help us achieve a level of scale and infrastructure previously unseen and unexplored in the podcast industry, " said Midroll Media CEO Adam Sachs.
"Chris has deep expertise with narrative, story-driven audio programming, alongside genuine comedy bona fides from his work on shows like Whad'Ya Know and A Prairie Home Companion. Combined with his sophisticated understanding of audience development, Chris has the ideal experience and vision to lead the creation of our next wave of innovative podcasts," said Sachs.
The Chief Content Officer will be based in Midroll’s New York office and production studio, slated to open in late Q1. This facility will provide a home base for the company's growing East Coast operations, housing production, sales, and business development staff. Bannon begins his new role with Midroll in March.
(Links to headshots for Adam Sachs and Chris Bannon can be found here.)
ABOUT MIDROLL MEDIA
Midroll Media is a digital media company providing a 360-degree suite of production, distribution, and monetization services to artists, entertainers, and thought leaders. It is the parent company of Earwolf, the leading comedy podcasting network, the Wolfpop pop-culture podcast network, and the Midroll advertising platform. Midroll offers the industry's first user-focused, self-service platform for both advertisers and podcasters to buy, sell, and manage podcast ad inventory. Advertisers have access to more than 200 of the most well-known and downloaded podcasts on the internet. Midroll is online at http://www.midroll.com.
###
MEDIA CONTACT:
Wadooah Wali
wadooah(at)midroll(dot)com
Wadooah Wali, Midroll Media, http://midroll.com, +1 415-726-9600, [email protected]
Share this article