# THE MAKING OF A HIT PODCAST

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-media-odyssey-7131582/the-making-of-a-hit-podcast
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-media-odyssey-7131582/the-making-of-a-hit-podcast.md
Podcast: [The Media Odyssey](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-media-odyssey-7131582)
Published: 2026-04-09T06:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://themediaodyssey.transistor.fm/episodes/the-making-of-a-hit-podcast
Audio file: https://2.gum.fm/op3.dev/e/pdcn.co/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pdst.fm/e/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.transistor.fm/56c0f7c0/a07847da.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-media-odyssey-7131582/episodes/the-making-of-a-hit-podcast
Duration seconds: 3526

## Resource

He helped create the most listened-to podcasts in history and then walked away from the New York Times to start over from scratch. Welcome to The Media Odyssey Podcast! In this episode, Evan and Marion sit down with Brian Reed, documentary podcaster and co-founder of Placement Theory, whose career spans documentary podcasts This American Life, S-Town, and now Question Everything. The conversation traces the origin story of Serial, which was expected to get a few hundred thousand downloads and ended up with hundreds of millions, all the way through to Brian's decision to leave the New York Times and build something new: Placement Theory, a audio production company built to support journalists and creators. Along the way, the episode digs into a question that runs underneath everything Brian makes: can quality, independent journalism survive? As local newsrooms collapse, public media gets defunded, and audiences feel overwhelmed and burned out, Brian makes the case that the desire for truth is still very much there as a market problem waiting for the right solution. Key Takeaways: 1. Serial Was Expected to Get "a Few Hundred Thousand Downloads” Before It Got Hundreds of Millions When Sarah Koenig pitched Serial at This American Life, the team budgeted for a few hundred thousand downloads. It became the most listened-to podcast in the history of the format, redefining audio documentary as a medium, with hundreds of millions of downloads for the first season alone. Brian attributes much of this to the fact that they were reporting the Adnan Syed story in real time, week by week so it was breaking news every episode. It is clear the podcast played a direct role in Adnan's eventual release from prison. 2. S-Town Was Designed as an Audio Novel and Released All at Once Brian s…

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## Transcript

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