The Melbourne-based companies have joined under the Placard Media brand.
Nearly and Placard Media have finalised a merger, effective from this week.
Placard Media is a dedicated podcast agency that has been working with brands and podcasts in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
Currently, Placard Media is working with over 150 podcasts, while Nearly is an Australian-based podcast network that uses an ad-supported model to deliver high quality shows.
The merger between the young Melbourne-based companies comes after the 2017 boom in podcast awareness and as the growing medium begins to slowly mature in 2018.
Operating as a single entity will allow Placard Media to work closely with brands and organisations to deliver and end to end service from content creation, to advertising opportunities through its extensive network.
Nearly currently publishes three podcasts with another six shows already in production for release in 2018. Its current shows include:
The Debrief with Dave O’Neil
10 Questions with Adam Zwar
The Clappers hosted by Karl Quinn and Andrew Young
The merger will see Courtney Carthy join the Placard Media leadership team of Andy Hayes (CEO) and Andrew Shaw (CTO) as the Chief Creative Officer responsible for content and talent.
Co-founder of Nearly Andrew Bellairs will remain a minority shareholder in the Nearly brand and will act as an advisor to the network.
Andy Hayes said of the merger… “We are thrilled to have Courtney and the Nearly podcast network as a part of Placard Media. His dedication and drive to over the last 12 months in the podcast space has been incredible and having him at Placard will only help us deliver even more quality to our clients.”
“It is our intention to grow the Nearly network into one of the countries strongest networks and this partnership will allow us to do this is a seamless manner”.
Courtney Carthy said this is the best strategy for brands, audiences and the industry. “Podcasts as a medium require many skills, it’s a highly multifaceted medium.
“Merging Nearly and Placard creates a one-stop-shop for future clients, reliable quality for audiences and hopefully a very positive contribution to the industry, both local and overseas.”
“We’re able to experiment more, share what we learn and deliver better value through podcasts. It’s great to see that happening overseas but we want it happening here now, and there’s a demand for it.”
Podcasts are an aural version of a letter to the editor albeit to a much smaller audience.
When podcasts are able to be immediate and provide local information, only then will they rival radio.
Right now, they're a costly decoy for a radio companies who are best advised to keep improving their primary content instead of such trimmings.