The New York Times Company (NYT) announced the hire of Amanda McCartney in a newly-created role: director of audio and podcasts.
McCartney joins NYT from Slate Media, where she sold its selection of podcasts, including advice show Dear Prudence, Lexicon Valley, explainer show The Gist, and Trumpcast; shows for Slate’s Panoply network, and branded podcasts for three years. She had also previously worked for The Washington Post and HuffPost as a national sales manager.
In this new role, McCartney is assigned to work within the publishers advertising team, in collaboration with client leads to sell The Times’ group of podcasts, including The Daily and Still Processing. She will also work with direct-response podcast agencies.
Said Laura Sonnenfeld, vice president of media at NYT: "Podcasts are an important and growing part of our business that helps Times journalism reach its audience in new ways. We're thrilled to welcome Amanda to The Times as demand for alignment with 'The Daily,''Still Processing' and other podcasts continues to grow."
The announcement comes days after the Times presented its new media offerings at its 2018 Newfronts event. Aside from its evident investment in podcasting advertising opportunities with the McCartney hire, NYT announced a further commitment to getting it’s 3.6 million subscribers engaged via print and digital, as well as on television and streaming services.
Last week, research compiled by Matrix Solutions revealed that only 10% of Americans are excited about original content from NYT, and the Times' Newfronts announcements seemed to show a willingness for the paper to step further into digital content. Mark Gorman of Matrix explained the data is due to a lack of consumer awareness of the publishers’ digital offerings. However, the name recognition of NYT has helped it fare better than other legacy publications like Conde Nast, whose multiple properties only mustered up excitement from 2% of Americans.