June 3 – Manchester United has taken more control of its own media, moving its popular UTD Podcast on to the club’s own app, supplementing its distribution on third party podcast platforms.
The Man Utd app broke the three million download mark this month, and has now added a new feature that will enable registered fans to listen to the podcast with the ability to switch to video mode if they want to watch it.
The feature allows users to pause and pick up the podcast at any point, as well as listen in the background whilst they use other apps.
Ian Nolan, chief content officer within Manchester United’s Media department, said: “Over the past 18 months, we have published over 80 episodes of the UTD Podcast. We felt that the time was right to integrate the full collection into the official club app with every episode available free of charge to fans, in both audio and video formats.”
The UTD Podcast was launched 18 months ago and has become the top ranked official football club podcast on Apple with a 5-star approval rating. Downloads of the podcast lept by 60% during lockdown with the average session time pushing one hour.
Rather than just being a club promotion, the podcast has gained a reputation for its in-depth conversations with some of United’s biggest stars, and for being unafraid to tackle editorially sensitive topics.
Content has included issues around mental health, poverty, racism, bullying, addiction and suicide. Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Robin van Persie, Patrice Evra, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford are among those who have sat down with presenters Sam Homewood, Helen Evans and former United defender David May.
The content is often hard-hitting and has dovetailed with the club’s campaigning on issues such as anti-racism and mental health awareness. “We keep in things that other podcasts would cut out, making fans feel like they’re in the room and taking them on that emotional journey,” said Nolan.
“We distribute the podcast widely, across 50+ global podcast platforms and apps. We also film each episode, allowing us to create video for distribution on our channels, and allow for global fans without access to podcast apps to consume in full. This latest development, integrating the entire catalogue of episodes into a dedicated feature within the app seemed like the next natural step for our global content strategy.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1715914613labto1715914613ofdlr1715914613owedi1715914613sni@n1715914613osloh1715914613cin.l1715914613uap1715914613