Goodpods co-founder on launching during COVID-19

The podcast-centric social network Goodpods connects listeners to new podcasts at the recommendations of friends and influencers. Co-founder of Goodpods JJ Ramberg joins The Final Round to discuss the business and how COVID-19 has impacted it.

Video Transcript

JEN ROGERS: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance. Stocks higher on the day despite opening in the red, breaking a three-day losing streak here. I want to shift now, and talk about the business of podcasting. As we've all been sheltering in place, we've done a lot of stories about what's been happening in streaming media, the surges that we've seen there, but are we listening to as many podcasts now that we're not commuting?

I want to bring in JJ Ramberg. She is the co-founder of Goodpods. Goodpods is a new podcast centric social network. So JJ, I guess, just start with why you think we need a company like Goodpods? I feel like I have, you know, four places already that I get all my podcasts mixed up.

JJ RAMBERG: Yeah, I get it. It's-- it's a question we get asked but here's the thing, when's the last time you were about to go for a run or about to get in your car to listen to a podcast and you think, what am I going to listen to? And then you spend your entire exercise time scrolling through trying to find a podcast to listen to.

And that's why we thought we needed Goodpods, because the best way to get podcasts recommendations is from your friends, or from influencers that you respect, or podcasters you like. And so on Goodpods you go on and you follow one, like you would on Instagram or Twitter, and you see what they're listening to by episode.

RICK NEWMAN: Hey JJ, Rick Newman here. I have a podcast called Electionomics, free plug. So-- so that's my declared bias. Is anybody making money off of podcasts?

JJ RAMBERG: There are a very few people who are making money off of podcasts right now, but it is an industry in its infancy. And one of the problems that we found is that there are some really big podcasts that everyone knows about, right? The Daily, Joe Rogan, things like that. But there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of independent podcasts with great voices and great stories, but it's hard for them to get noticed.

And that's part of our mission here is you don't have to get into a very fancy top 10 list or have buckets of money to spend on marketing for Goodpods. If your friends and your fans follow your podcasts and listen to you, then their friends will see it. And so we see independent podcasts going viral on Goodpods, and that will increase listenership and help more money-- more people be able to make money off of podcasts.

- JJ, you know, to follow up on Rick's point, I mean, it felt like a few years ago, we were already at a saturation point when it comes to podcasts. And that's obviously because we're looking at some of the big names that are out there. When you talk about these independent podcasts, you know, what-- what kind of podcasts are we talking about? Do you find that there are similarities in the topics that are discussed, the types of podcasts that are out there? Where is the growth right now?

JJ RAMBERG: You name it. Remember when blogs were new, right? This is basically what's happening in podcasting because it's very accessible for almost anyone to start a podcast. And so people are starting fictional ones. Pods about food, about religion, about very niche things. So there are so many great podcasts out there.

If you go on Goodpods and you look on my profile, you can get-- you can listen to any podcast on-- on Goodpods. And if you just look at my profile, you'll see ones about food, religion, history. Some that you've heard of before and some that probably will come out of nowhere for you. But it is growing quickly. And during this time, as we're all quarantined at home, a lot of people are starting podcasts. I just spoke to someone from Podbean, one of the podcast networks, and they're getting a lot of new podcasters.

MYLES UDLAN: Well, and you know, JJ, you mentioned that, when I've thought about this too, like, I'd love to do a podcast. I have all this extra time. It's so easy with all of the equipment now. But we saw earlier in this shelter in place situation, listening was down a little bit. Now people have fit that back into their lives, but do you feel like that podcasts habits that have maybe normalized here in the last couple of months? What kind of trends, in terms of listenership, have you guys seen?

JJ RAMBERG: No. Well, that's-- so we're brand new, right? If you look at podcast listening over all, they said it was down, and then it was coming up. Goodpods is brand new. So for us it's all going up. We just launched, but-- but again, what we're seeing that so neat is the ones that are trending on Goodpods are not necessarily the most famous ones. Actually, there's a Yahoo podcast, "The Art of the Exit," that is--

RICK NEWMAN: Now it's done.

JJ RAMBERG: --got-- went right through our community. Was about $100 million art heist-- art heist, and someone listened to it, and then their friend, and then their friend, and then their friend, and it went viral through the network. It was really cool. That was one of our first examples of it really working on Goodpods.

RICK NEWMAN: So I'm going to give a shout out to Alex Sugg. He's the producer here at Yahoo Finance who does that. But I have another question, so you mentioned Joe Rogan before. He also does a video, and then you also refer to the evolution here so by talking about blogs and now we have podcasts.

So I'm wondering if podcasts are going to evolve into video casts where you're really going to have a video to go along with it. I mean, think about 5G coming. I mean, is that going to become kind of a necessity? Or if not what comes next?

JJ RAMBERG: I don't think it will become a necessity. I do think, and already a lot of podcasts are starting with videos, have videos. So you know, one of the great things about podcasts that are just audio though is you don't have to be tied to look at anything. You can listen to it in your car.

You can listen to it when you're running or walking. But again, this-- this industry is just in its infancy right now. And so I think it's going to change tremendously as it grows.

JEN ROGERS: Hey, JJ, you have something in common with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman. They also had to launch a media company during a global pandemic. They've had some rough times. How has it been going for you? I mean, you've launched multiple projects and companies before you, Goodsearch. What-- what is it like launching right now? Has it been harder or easier?

JJ RAMBERG: Yeah, it was really interesting because we had-- we have a lot of influence on board. So people who you can follow, like Malcolm Gladwell, and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kim Kardashian. And so we had gotten ready to launch this in mid-March, and then the world turned upside down, as you know, right as we were about to launch. And so we really had to sit as a team and say, is this appropriate, and does the world need this right now, right?

And when the world is so scary, everything is so uncertain. And so we sat around together, and kind of had a heart to heart with the whole management team, and say, should we do this? And what we decided is to look at it as if we were users, and say, as users, would this be helpful to us right now? And since we had a bid out and we were users, and we were turning to podcasts a lot more for entertainment, and for information, and for doing things with our family, we decided, yes, this actually does feel like the right time to launch it.

But as you can imagine, we had to change our marketing because before it was like, you've got followers, and listen to this podcast, and it just-- it wasn't-- it wasn't the right message for us, or for the time, or for the world. And so we had to rethink a lot of things.

JEN ROGERS: All right, we got a--

JJ RAMBERG: May I get a-- [AUDIO OUT]

JEN ROGERS: What?

JJ RAMBERG: One last thing.

JEN ROGERS: Yeah.

JJ RAMBERG: You, Jen Rogers, all right, influencer yourself and a first mover because this woman got on early enough to get an @Jen.

JEN ROGERS: And you know how many Jens there are? Yeah.

JJ RAMBERG: I'm one of them.

JEN ROGERS: Yeah, JJ and I work together in a former life. So JJ, great to have you on, and good luck with Goodpods.