The Digital Hollywood Experience

 

Thursday, January 14th, 2021

Noon - 12:45 PM - Eastern Time Zone

All-Digital & Online

Session II:

Podcast Leadership: The Industry Visionaries

Podcasting Superstars! Podcasting Partnerships! Podcasting is dominating the Media Landscape. There are over 1.5 Million Podcast Shows – 35 Million Episodes - Over 144 million Americans have listened. The advertising industry is on board. In this session, we have assembled the industry leadership.

Sarah Van Mosel, CRO, Stitcher

Moses Ajibade Soyoola, President, OTHERtone Media

Conal Byrne, President iHeart Media

Hernan Lopez, CEO, Wondery

Chris Corcoran, Chief Content Officer and Founding Partner, Cadence13

Kathy Doyle, VP Podcasts, Macmillan - Moderator

 

Kathy Doyle is the Vice President of Podcasting for Macmillan Publishers, the only Big 5 with a dedicated podcast arm. She is responsible for audio-first programming, including the Macmillan Podcast Network, which produces popular podcasts with the organization’s authors and book imprints. Podcasts range from sci-fi and true crime to literature and biography. She also oversees

one of Macmillan’s largest digital networks, Quick and Dirty Tips. QDT produces a dozen weekly award-winning audio podcasts hosted by subject matter experts on a wide range of topics. Podcasts include the long-running Grammar Girl and Savvy Psychologist. The network has a large web presence, too, which features content from the podcast hosts and a large variety of Macmillan authors. Prior to joining Macmillan, she had a long-standing career developing digital products and services for media companies, including The Wall Street Journal and American Lawyer Media.

 

Moses Soyoola is a seasoned digital media executive, with a strong track record of building businesses that empower creators to make, market, and monetize their work. As the founding General Manager of Endeavor Audio, Moses oversaw all aspects of the audio business at Endeavor, including development, production, distribution, marketing, and monetization of podcasts. Under his leadership, Endeavor Audio distributed over 40 podcasts in its first two years of operations, including 12 original podcasts, most notably winner of both Webby's and iHeartRadio's awards for Best Fiction Podcast, Blackout starring Academy Award winner Rami Malek. Moses has been named to Variety's New Leaders List, and as a Podcast Power Player by Business Insider. Prior to Endeavor, Moses served as Head of Business Development & Strategy at Megaphone, where he was responsible for leading all business development and partnership efforts to structure and negotiate production, financing, distribution, and licensing deals with content creators, media companies, and data suppliers. Most notably, Moses was responsible for the deal to produce, distribute, and launch Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast, as well as a first-of-its-kind agreement with Nielsen to power Megaphone's ad targeting technology. Moses began his career at Goldman Sachs, and received his B.A. in Economics and Psychology from Yale University.

 

Sarah Van Mosel, Chief Revenue Officer, Stitcher: As chief revenue officer, van Mosel leads Stitcher’s sales organization, Midroll, the long-time leader in podcast advertising that represents over 250 of the world’s top podcasts. A leading expert of digital audio sales and strategy, van Mosel was formerly chief podcast sales and strategy officer at Market Enginuity, where she oversaw all sales activity and strategic planning for the company. In this role, van Mosel managed sales for PRX's The Moth and TED Talks Daily as well as the Radiotopia network including 99% Invisible, Song Exploder, Criminal and Ear Hustle. She previously held leadership roles at Acast and New York Public Radio. Van Mosel is currently the co-chair of the IAB Podcast Business Working Group.

 

Hernan Lopez is Founder & CEO of Wondery, the largest independent podcast publisher. Wondery became the fastest network to join the Top 10 ranker by Podtrac, propelled by immersive hit shows like Dr. Death, Dirty John, American History Tellers, Business Wars, The Shrink Next Door and American Innovations. Prior to founding Wondery, Hernan was President & CEO of Fox International Channels, a $3bn division of Fox (now Disney). Hernan has been a speaker at Cannes Lions, CES, SXSW, Promax and Natpe, and his articles have been published by Ad Age and Fast Company. He holds an MBA from University Of Miami and lives in Los Angeles.

 

Conal Byrne is the President of the iHeartPodcast Network for iHeartMedia.  iHeartRadio carries more than 250,000 podcasts from its own to other major podcast publishers and Conal oversees the iHeartPodcast Network of more than 750 original shows that amass more than 127 million downloads a month, making it the No. 1 commercial podcast publisher globally. He also oversees ateam of over 50 podcast producers throughout Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. He led the launch of the HowStuffWorks (HSW) podcast program 10 years ago as CEO, making it the central focus of the company. Byrne joined iHeartMedia when the company acquired HSW in October 2018. He also previously served as Senior Vice President of Digital Media for Discovery Communications, where he ran digital for all of Discovery’s U.S. networks and led the launch of Discovery VR. Byrne graduated from Georgetown University Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He also went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Columbia University in New York City where he received a Master’s in Literature. In his free time, Byrne also writes and records music, supports up-and-coming indie film directors and tries to keep up with his four young kids.

 

Chris Corcoran, Chief Content Officer and Founding Partner, Cadence13: One of the most creative thinkers and leaders in the industry, Corcoran leads all partner acquisition and content development across all of Cadence13’s programming division. Since Corcoran joined the company in May 2015, Cadence13—a leading premium podcast company that is part of Entercom’s Podcast Network—has partnered with some of the most influential creators and brands, including: Crooked Media, goop, theSkimm, Unsolved Mysteries, You Must Remember This, Jemele Hill, Rachel Hollis, Karina Longworth, Lauren Conrad, Andrew Yang, Kevin Durant, Emma Chamberlain, David Dobrik, Tony Kornheiser, Jon Meacham, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, TenderfootTV, Ben Reiter, David Plouffe, Elle Fanning, The Dolan Twins, Kobe Bryant, JJ Redick, Leon Neyfakh, Headspace, People, Deepak Chopra, CJ McCollum, Gretchen Rubin, James Andrew Miller, Market Snacks and many more. Corcoran’s vision led to the creation of Ramble, a podcast network of some of the most influential digital stars in the world. Corcoran is also the Creator and Executive Producer of the Peabody-nominated C13 Originals studio, home to such critically acclaimed podcast documentaries as It Was Said; Gangster Capitalism; Long May They Run; Once Upon a Time...in the Valley; Relative Unknown; Hope, Through History; and The Edge, an investigative documentary on the Houston Astros. Corcoran created and developed the concept for C13 Features—a pioneering podcast feature studio focused on creating a wide-ranging slate of compelling feature-length fictionalized stories of all genres that appeal to a wide audience—and will serve as executive producer for all productions/features and lead the new studio. Corcoran was named a “Power Player of Podcasting” by Business Insider in February 2020. Cadence13 was named one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019.”