Goalhanger’s Tony Pastor on building a global podcast brand
The formula for a successful podcast is simple: “Intelligent people talking in an entertaining way about something they know a great deal about.”
That’s according to Tony Pastor, the co-founder of Goalhanger, the U.K.’s leading independent podcast production company, which specializes in content across history, politics, sport, current affairs and entertainment.
The company’s portfolio of shows includes The Rest Is History, The Rest Is Politics and The Rest Is Football (co-hosted by international-footballer-turned-broadcaster Gary Lineker, who founded the company with Pastor). In a little over five years, Goalhanger has amassed international audiences from London to New York to Sydney, reaching tens of millions of listeners each month.
“We are nowhere near peak podcasting,” Tony Pastor tells The Current Podcast. “Unlike other forms of media, we’re growing — unlike traditional TV and radio models, which are shrinking.”
That fact underpins the company’s proposition to commercial advertising and sponsorship partners, as it also builds out its subscription model. “The sell to commercial partners is that our listeners are super engaged,” Pastor says.
He gives the lie to the cliché that young people only want bite-size content. Pastor sees plenty of evidence that people in their 20s and 30s want “long-form, intelligent, entertaining conversations.” He also talks about the company’s push into video and addresses the company’s international ambitions.