Exile: Developing podcasts with journalistic value for the US and Spanish-speaking countries

Podcasting is a business that has had great growth in the US and it is reasonable to presume that it will be the same in Latin America and Spain, said Fernando Rodríguez-Vila, head of the podcasts division at Exile Content Studio in an interview with PRODU. So the company decided to develop several projects in this area and to use them as a basis for making a series, films, or documentaries.

In Exile they are working for both the Latin American and the American markets, which Fernández-Vila describes as ultra-competitive “but to which we can contribute with a different perspective because we have a more international view,” he said.

In Latin America, for the moment, Exile is focusing on podcasts with journalistic value because in order to make media noise and become a topic of conversation. The second phase will be to create conversation podcasts, which take longer to find their own audience, but once this happens it becomes very loyal.

One of their main projects was one they did together with the Mexican production company Detective, owned by journalist Diego Enrique Osorno, which premiered on July 14. It consists of a podcast series with original versions in Spanish and English called Transportista and is part of an agreement with iHeartRadio.

“What is most appealing about podcasts is that you can listen while doing something else: running, walking, at the gym, cleaning, driving, or on the way to work. It is a very intimate experience and it is a good way to spend time when you are doing daily routines”, explained Fernández-Vila, adding that podcasts can be a documentary, fictional, interviews, and talks, among others.

Their podcasts are mainly aimed at young people, who are used to listening to things on their phones, and their main source of income is through advertising sales, although there are independent producers who charge a small subscription fee.

He added that fiction tends to have less audience than the rest, but what is attractive is that it can be used as a way of developing stories for TV, platforms, or cinema, such as Homecoming, starring Julia Roberts, which began as a podcast and then became a hit series.