Crime Junkie has been among podcasting’s biggest success stories, and since 2021 it has partnered with SiriusXM, which not only sells its inventory but is the foundation of a true crime satellite radio channel. Growing attention from media and would be advertisers is welcome, but Crime Junkie co-founder Ashley Flowers told the CES conference last week that it has required they become more responsible for who they work with.
“I don’t want to be an influencer,” Flowers said. “Once you start losing your authenticity, even in one area, it affects everything.” She said that has required Audiochuck to become even stricter about the brands they work with, because if they lose that connection with listeners, it is unlikely they will be able to regain that trust.
“There’s very few places to spend time with the same person for hours. And what we’ve built in podcasting is a relationship with someone that is so different. “It’s the way that you talk to your friends and you trust their opinion,” Flowers said. “If they’re willing to do that with me, they also then deeply trust me when I tell them what my favorite toilet paper is. And I don’t take that lightly.”
Crime Junkie recently began publishing video episodes and Flowers told the CES audience that it took some time to make the leap since they needed to come with a way to translate the feel of the audio version into the new format.
“I felt like if I did video wrong, it could take away from everything I’ve done in audio,” she explained. The result is a show that features her and co-host Brit Prawat sitting in a living room setting as though they are just telling listeners a story. Flowers said they also see short-form video clips as a way to build their audience via Instagram, YouTube or TikTok but driving them back to the podcast. “If you bring people into your sphere by creating something they like but saying come over here. You’ve got to leverage that appropriately,” Flowers said.
For all the attention being given to video podcasts, SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said during the on-stage Q&A with Flowers that SiriusXM remains “audio first” and given its in-car focus, it is a format they are doubling down on.
“I don’t think we’re going to be in self-driving cars sometime in the near future,” Witz said. “And the car is very much the perfect for audio, creating that companionship while you’re driving.” But she said SiriusXM will continue to expand into adjacencies where it makes sense to support its core satellite radio business, such as podcasting and music streaming to give advertisers a deeper breadth of content to reach listeners.
Artificial intelligence continued to be a hot topic at last week’s CES and Flowers said Audiochuck has yet to use audio cloning for any show production or advertising reads and has also resisted using it in the creative process, explaining she believes listeners “appreciate the human experience” of their shows. That may run counter to what many others are doing, but Flowers thinks it will become a competitive advantage in the years ahead.
“I think more and more people will be craving that genuine connection and looking to human touch,” Flowers said.
Witz said SiriusXM is leveraging AI for things like IT and security, as well as answering the thousands of customer messages they receive. But she also sees it as a way to help solve the discovery problem by using AI to help listeners find content they love, or tailor a listening experience to the time of day or listening location. Witz says some smaller advertisers are also leveraging synthetic voices to scale their campaigns using AI.
“There’s lots of opportunities to be more efficient and to provide a better personalized experience using AI,” said Witz. “But while you see increased use of technology and AI, we are doubling down on humans creating content. We fundamentally believe it’s just foundational to the connection that audio provides.”
Watch a replay of the CES conversation HERE.
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