NBC News, known for TV, makes aggressive podcasting push

Not every television story adapts itself well to the podcast format, since they take time and considerable reporting to develop characters and include twists and turns enough to sustain the interest of listeners. NBC has brought on people experienced in the format for its unit, Haeringer said.

NBC News’ success in podcasting is driven primarily by “Dateline NBC,” which it has cleverly positioned into a brand of its own with true crime projects, said James Cridland, editor of the trade publication Podnews. In Edison Research’s list of the top 50 podcasts of last year, “Dateline NBC” and “The Rachel Maddow Show” are NBC’s two entries.

“Much of NBC’s podcast output is reheated TV shows,” Cridland said. But with research showing young audiences attracted to audio formats, it’s a strategic move to aggressively get into the podcast business, he said.

Podcasts are also an incubator for ideas that could be translated elsewhere, he said. In addition to the upcoming “Bag Man” movie, NBC is turning the story in “The Thing About Pam” into an entertainment series starring Renee Zellweger.

As a new format, podcasts are wide open to companies of all sorts. Spotify is a big player in the industry, as are other large audio-based companies like iHeartRadio and SXM Media. There are those who focus primarily on podcasts, like Wondery and Kast Media, corporate behemoths like Disney and ViacomCBS, and those known best in other mediums, like NPR and The New York Times.