Podcast News Roundup | The 2 Johnnies Live Show & More!
Welcome back to HeadStuff’s Podcast News Roundup, your go-to place for podcast news and recommendations. This week’s roundup features HeadStuff’s Podcast Of The Week and also looks at International Podcast Day, the 2 Johnnies new live show and more!
As always if you host a podcast and want it featured as our podcast of the week, email us at [email protected] and we’ll be sure to check it out!
Podcast of the Week
This week, we’ve been listening to The Demon Drink, a new podcast from Lucy Cogan and Alice Mauger. It’s a show exploring Ireland’s, shall we say, “complicated” relationship with alcohol, and it draws on the co-hosts’ backgrounds in literature and the history of medicine to take us through several hundred years of drinking in Irish culture.
There are strange tales, fascinating insights, and plenty of whiskey, with literary excerpts brought to life by voiceover artists throughout. Episode 1 is out now and starts with the story behind the classic tune Whiskey in the Jar.
The 2 Johnnies bring their podcast to the 3Arena with live show
The 2 Johnnies will take to the stage with Ireland’s biggest ever live podcast show. The show takes place at the 3Arena Dublin on December 16th. The show will coincide with The 2 Johnnies podcast’s 200th episode.
The 2 Johnnies, two Tipperary natives otherwise known as Johnny B and Johnny Smacks, launched The 2 Johnnies podcast in 2018, after a series of hugely successful comedy sketches online. Since then, the show has become one of Ireland’s fastest growing podcasts, with over half a million listeners each week.
The pair have gone from strength to strength since the podcast became a Spotify Exclusive show earlier this year, and has become one of the fastest growing shows on the platform.
Tickets for the live show go on sale on today, October 1st at 9am, available from Ticketmaster.ie.
International Podcast Day
Yesterday, September 30th, was International Podcast Day, a day dedicated to celebrating any and all podcasts around the world. A study carried out by the Statista Global Consumer Survey, revealing which countries were the biggest podcast fans, showed that podcasts continue to grow in popularity.
Out of 54 countries, Sweden comes out on top with 47% of survey respondents claiming to have listened to at least one podcast in the last 12 months. Coming up next are Ireland and Brazil, with more than 40% of survey participants listening to podcasts, while countries like the UK, Australia and the US came in at around 30%.
With the continued growth of podcasts in recent years, we can expect to see these numbers rise by this time next year.
Speaking of which…
Spotify suggests digital audio is significantly more impactful than radio
According to new statistics released by Spotify, digital audio such as podcasts and audiobooks have a greater effect on people than radio. In the study, Neuro-Insight suggested the level of self-selected content lead to higher engagement with on-demand digital audio, versus the more impersonal structure of traditional radio.
66% of participants involved in the study believed that digital audio has provided a valuable escape from the high levels of visual media surrounding us.
Season Two of Absolutely Mental is out now for $15
Season 2 of Ricky Gervais’ Absolutely Mental podcast has launched on absolutelymental.com. The show is hosted by comedian Ricky Gervais and neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris. Together, they discuss the important things in life, like how to be smarter and happier, and what they would ask all-powerful aliens if given the chance.
Gervais shared a clip of season 2 on his Twitter page:
In a statement, Gervais said “The response to the first series has been genuinely amazing, so I can’t wait for people to hear the new episodes because I think they’re even better.” Harris added “It has been one of the great privileges of my life to drag myself out of bed each Saturday morning, only to be reminded that — with civilization unravelling by the hour, Ricky Gervais is primarily afraid of spiders.”
To listen to all 10 episodes of Absolutely Mental, fans must pay $15 on their website. They can also purchase season one and two as a bundle for $20.
