Blue Wire Q&A: VP of Business Development Maggie Lanter

Henry Ettinger

August 7, 2020

Blue Wire's Q&A series is back with VP of Business Development, Maggie Lanter. Maggie came to Blue in March after spending almost six years at Wasserman where she elevated from intern to senior manager of brands at the agency. At Blue Wire, Maggie is in charge of sales, creative partnerships, and revenue generation. Although Maggie came to Blue Wire just as the pandemic forced sports to shutdown nationwide, she took that challenge head on and successfully steered Blue Wire through a pivotal challenge in the company's growth. Her ability to think creatively and build relationships are now are paying off as sports have come back in a big way.

Most recently, Maggie has been closing deals and onboarding three new members to her team. She has closed network-wide deals with companies like Deal Dash, TheraOne CBD, and Manscaped as well as individualized podcast deals for both our network podcasts and our original narrative content that we're excited to announce soon. She was put in a tough spot during the pandemic, but she delivered. We spoke to her both about how she altered her thinking during this trying time for the industry and about the growth of the podcast industry in general. Here is what she had to say.

Q: A recent study from the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) found that podcast advertising was up 48% in 2019 and was still up 15% this year so far even with the pandemic. What does that say about the health of the industry?

A: This means that the podcast advertising industry is resilient and thriving despite this year’s obstacles. With so much incredible content in the space and increasing consumer engagement, it’s a really exciting time for audio. Advertisers are certainly paying attention and taking action.  

Q: Along the same lines, what are companies seeing in podcasting that is making them shift their dollars to the medium?

A: Advertisers are seeing value and performance in audio, which is driving new brands to the space all the time and keeps them coming back for more. Podcasting enables personal endorsements from hosts with a level of authenticity that is unmatched across other mediums. It’s easy to scroll past a paid social media post, but when your favorite podcaster is telling a story about a brand they admire in their own voice, you don’t skip it.  

Q: Blue Wire made a conscious effort to get into narrative content projects during the pandemic and is continuing that going forward. What kind of unique opportunities do these projects like TE1 provide for advertising/partnerships?  

A: I am so excited about these new series. We’re creating sports audio that’s so differentiated from what’s in the market today, and we’re working with brands who value that. We see these narrative podcasts as the new frontier in branded content and cross-channel activations, as we are able to package audio, social, video, media assets and more to truly integrate our brand partners in the content and drive significant attribution.

Q: How has the pandemic made you think differently from a strategy perspective in sales/partnerships?

A: It's no secret that advertisers spent less last quarter across the board amid the pandemic, so it’s been important to use this time to build relationships, meet new contacts, learn about their brand/client objectives, spread the word about what we’re building here at Blue Wire, and lay the foundation for when budgets open up again. We’ve had great conversations with advertisers already in the podcast space as well as countless others who are considering it for the first time.  

Q: What’s the impact of live sports coming back into the picture?

A: I started this role at the very beginning of the pandemic, so it’s been incredible to see over the past couple weeks how live sports has impacted our business. You would think that fans would tune in less because they finally have live sports to curb their cravings, but in fact we’ve seen the opposite. All the great work this team has done – the new podcasts we’ve recruited, the creative strategies we’ve employed, the audience engagement we’ve continued – is paying off.  We had our best month ever last month with only two weeks of live sports. I can’t wait to see what August has in store for us!  

To find our podcasts or learn about everything going on at Blue Wire, visit bluewirepods.com and follow us on Twitter @bluewirepods.

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