A new premium podcast production company has been launched targeting the Wales and South West England markets.
HayMan Media is the brainchild of award-winning photographer Rob Norman (former photo editor at the Western Mail and Echo) and videographer Darryl Corner (former head of commercial video at Reach plc).
The start-up venture has built a new studio in the centre of Newport to deliver customised podcasts for creative and corporate clients. Specialising in video, audio and stills, the business partners want to offer their clients the experience of being in some of the UK's biggest newsrooms.
Despite the UK podcast market reaching 19% of the adult population and more than 10 million listeners every week, Heyman said Wales lacks quality podcast studios to tap into this growing market.
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Norman added: “There is a real gap in South Wales for this kind of storytelling and I don't think it's right that Welsh creative people and businesses have to go outside Wales to tell their stories.”
“There are now so many different ways to reach people, it's essential that you can deliver your message across different mediums. A still image can still say 1,000 words, but with the average person watching 17 hours of video per week, you need to be able to deliver video as well – that's where we come in.”
Co-founder Corner said: “They used to say that everyone has a novel inside of them, but these days it might be truer that everyone has a podcast-writing talent inside of them, ready to explode. We help individuals and businesses develop their podcast ideas through coaching, content development, and professional recording and editing.”
“Whether you're someone who wants to share your passion about topics that matter to you or a business that wants to speak directly to customers, podcasts have the potential to build your brand and connect with an audience of potential clients and customers.”
Heyman says a key element of marketing a podcast is the accompanying video that can be shared on social media.
Norman, one of a select few photographers chosen to take the historic images of Princess Diana's funeral, spent decades with some of Wales' biggest news organisations.
He said: “We work in the news industry, which is fast-moving and high-pressure, so we understand the need to get to the story quickly, capture the essence of what our audience wants to know and tell it quickly and with the best quality. And that applies equally no matter what medium you use to tell your story – still images, video or podcasts.”
