Bauer Media appoints BBC alumnus Maria Williams to new podcast editor role
Bauer Media's increasing focus on digital audio has been cemented by its appointment of Maria Williams to the newly created podcast editor role.
Bauer Media appoints BBC alumnus Maria Williams to new podcast editor role
Williams will be responsible for a podcast portfolio which currently includes Q Presents: The Making Of, The MOJO Innovators, Clyde 1 SuperScoreboard and The Frank Skinner Show podcast. But she will also oversee the creation of original formats with Bauer Media’s in-house digital audio team.
Williams previously held a number of roles at the BBC, where she launched Saturday Live, was deputy editor of Woman’s Hour and made programmes for both Radio 1 and Radio 2. She has also clocked time delivering programming at Wise Buddah and Loftus Media.
She will report directly to Brett Spencer, digital content director, who said: "Maria brings a depth of knowledge and experience to Bauer Media at an exciting time for podcasts. Consumer interest is growing in the power of sound, offering advertisers highly engaged, high quality audiences."
Williams added: "I’ve long been a fan of Bauer’s iconic publishing brands and radio stations, so I’m genuinely thrilled to get to work with people I admire, creating original new podcasts and further developing our existing offerings."
The appointment comes in the same month the radio and magazine business pulled its digital audio inventory from rival Global's DAX advertising platform, making it available now only from Bauer InStream.
Figures from the most recent Rajars found that 36.3 million UK people listen to digital audio weekly, and more than 7 million people listen to podcasts every week.
Earlier this year, Acast published a study that revealed 76% of UK podcast listeners say they have acted on a podcast advert or sponsorship message. Furthermore, 75% of UK advertisers said they would up podcast ad spend in 2019.