‘It’s really important that we get this right’: Centennial World creates official podcast network, adds new show to stable
Centennial World — publisher of Gen Z podcasts including Infinite Scroll and Mini Scroll — has launched an official podcast network, adding a new show to the stable all about “celebrity beef”, hosted by senior entertainment and lifestyle reporters from Pedestrian and Who Magazine.
The new podcast, called High Steaks, will explore the “famous feuds, frenemies, and falling outs” that have shaped celebrity and internet culture.
It will be hosted by Sydney-based Pedestrian entertainment reporter Laura Masia and Who Magazine lifestyle writer Madison Bogisch.
Across the initial 12 episodes, the pair will delve into explosive celebrity moments, ranging from the media-driven beef between former child stars to when Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk were desperate for a fight in a ring.
Masia told Mumbrella the podcast is a response to how much time Gen Z is spending online.
“We all love a little bit of gossip [online],” she said. “So this is the perfect opportunity to go in-depth, to have a look at this beef and see why everyone was so fascinated with it at the time, but also take a reflective step back to see what we’ve learnt from these moments and how they’ve shaped culture today.”
She said perfecting that balance is what will make this podcast successful – having a fun, lighthearted podcast that provides escapism for listeners, while touching on important matters that need discussion.
“The hill that I’ll die on when it comes to entertainment journalism is that we can talk about really fun things and we can use pop culture to invite people in, but then actually talk about serious topics that are really important.”
High Steaks will sit alongside Centennial World’s other shows in the new podcast network, marking a major expansion of the business.
“We really want to connect to online culture, and that’s Centennial’s bread and butter,” Mesia told Mumbrella.
“When we knew that they wanted to expand their network, we thought this was a perfect fit, considering how focused we are on that Gen Z market. We fit in really well with their whole vibe and luckily they said yes and wanted to help us.
“This is a really cool move for Centennial, they can continue spreading their wings to become this unstoppable network,” she said.
The vision for Centennial World to expand stemmed from a need to meet the audience where it already is, according to the publisher’s founder and director, Lauren Meisner.
“About 18 months ago, we decided we needed to focus on where we’re actually building community and where people keep coming back to us,” she told Mumbrella. “We were previously very publication focused, more of that traditional digital media. But we found people were coming back to the podcasts every single day so knew we had to make that pivot.”
Centennial World’s podcast network has an average episode audience of 12,000, after the pivot caused extreme audience growth.
“We discovered that this is the future of our brand, this is what Gen Z wants, and we need media to meet them there.”
She hopes Centennial World will continue to expand its podcast network, but for now, she wanted to stick with one “spin off” show and do it right.
“It’s really important that we get this right, for both our sponsors and our own brand reputation,” Meisner told Mumbrella. “We’re an independent media brand, so we don’t have a lot of room to make mistakes.”
Podcast hosts Laura Masia and Madi Bogisch
Despite potential concerns of conflict with their current roles at Pedestrian and Who Magazine, Masia said she and Bogisch have been supported by their employers.
“I’m really lucky, and I know Madi is too, where we are in a situation where we can spend our spare time focusing on what we love. We both have these really open relationships with our employers who truthfully have been nothing but supportive of our creative ventures outside of work hours,” she told Mumbrella.
“My editors — Alex Bruce-Smith and Matthew Galea — have truly backed me from the get-go. I know not everyone can say they have that situation, so I am really lucky.”
The weekly show will launch on March 27 in partnership with wine spritzer brand Tempus One, who have sponsored the first two episodes, as well as this month’s launch event.
Within the Centennial World podcast network, brand sponsorships will be sold separately for each show, rather than as a collective.
“It’s very custom. It’s based on what the brand is looking for, what they align with, and what they’re interested in,” Meisner told Mumbrella. “There’s a chance shows could get packaged together if that’s what the brand wants, but we’re just playing it by ear.”
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
celebrity podcast
Centennial World
Centennial World Podcast Network
High Steaks
Laura Masia
Lauren Meisner
Madison Bogisch
Pedestrian
podcast
WHO Magazine
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