It’s great to see companies and production partners trying out new approaches for releasing branded company podcasts, especially with the significant investment required to sustain a high quality show. Let’s take a look at the new, and hopefully ongoing, show from tech and finance membership community Hampton.

MoneyWise

First, the show is produced by Lower Street, so I’ll mention up front that I partner with them on Brands In Audio (http://brandsinaudio.com), the directory and resource for branded company podcasts. Lower Street and Hampton founder Sam Parr are trying something interesting out with the show. They’ve released just a single episode and are asking the audience to weigh in with their feedback and how much they want to hear more episodes.

It’s quite a bold experiment! Imagine some different scenarios. For listeners who find the initial episode and love it, a portion of them will share their comments in the survey and on social media. If the pilot episode gets enough initial traction, that will give them both the valuable feedback for shaping future episodes, and a ton of extra promotion and commitment from listeners actively talking about the show. And in a downside case, if the show clearly doesn’t pick up an audience, the company and producers will have kept their upfront investment contained and can shift future efforts to a different podcast concept or othe marketing channels.

A tricky situation is if the show ends up in the middle - moderate listeners to the first episode, but not quite critical mass to get enough feedback or know if the show is going to be a long-term success. And there’s also a risk of losing momentum if it’ll take a while after getting the feedback to produce and release the next episode in the feed.

The show has nice potential, with a different take on personal finance and wealth. I sort of believe they’ve hedged their bets and have additional episodes ready to release regardless of the listener feedback :) But either way, I’m rooting for them!