METRO's Next Stop Podcast to Keep the Public Informed.

Target Audience: The target audience for The Next Stop: METRO Houston's Podcast is broad. It is designed to be relevant and interesting for current and potential patrons in our service area as well as listeners anywhere in the world. Depending of the episode tourists, developers, business leaders, people considering relocating to Houston can all glean information and develop a deeper understanding of METRO's transportation network.

Strategy Objective:The objective of launching The Next Stop is to provide an additional platform to share news and information about METRO and related public transit topics as well as to gain good will. A podcast provides the perfect platform by virtue of its accessibility. The on-demand functionality allows the audience to listen whenever convenient including while riding transit. Additionally, The Next Stop is fed to several sites to ensure listeners using different types of devices can access it.

Situation Challenge: As the economy becomes more global, METRO needs a platform to reach a larger audience to build ridership, gain support from stakeholders and connect with potential supporters of public transportation. Podcasts have emerged as a digital marketing tool with limitless growth opportunities. According to The 2018 Infinite Dial Study by Edison Research and Tirton Digital, podcast listening continues to grow steadily. In the most recent study, 44 percent of Americans over 12 years-old say they have listened to a podcast. A four percent increase over the previous year.

Results Impact: While still in its infancy The Next Stop is steadily gaining listeners. Since its launch four months ago, the six episodes have been played more than 300 times. METRO's social media platforms and website are being used to promote its availability. It was also featured in a Houston Chronicle article.

Why Submit: The Next Stop was submitted because it is an innovative marketing tool with the potential for considerable growth. The simplicity of the format allows it to be adaptable to address the promotional needs of the agency as they develop as well as providing METRO partnership opportunities with community stakeholders. 80 percent of podcast listeners consumed "all" or "most" of each episode, according to the before referenced Edison study. Which raises the potential the target audience would hear the majority of the message METRO is publishing. The long form format allows in-depth exploration of topics. Additionally, it is extremely cost effective. Startup costs were low and the expense of maintaining the production is nominal at best.