In an effort to position Goldman Sachs as a thought leader in both the financial industry and in the public discourse, the firm produces a number of recurring content series highlighting insights from Goldman Sachs' economists, researchers, analysts and experts.
Exchanges at Goldman Sachs is a twice-weekly podcast produced by Goldman Sachs' in-house content studio where experts from around the firm discuss developments shaping industries, markets and the global economy. It is moderated by Jake Siewert, the firm's head of global communications.
Exchanges was first launched in 2015, and has since become one of the organization's longest-running content series to date, cementing its status as a thought leader and promoting the diversity of its talent to the public sphere. With an average audience of more than 45,000 listeners, Exchanges is in the top one percent of podcast listenership. While many competitors have recently hopped the wave of podcast fever, Goldman Sachs has, and continues to be, a trusted resource of cutting-edge perspectives in the podcast arena.
Since its creation, Exchanges has maintained a consistent and successful formula, from interview format to branding. However, we’ve eagerly explored new format adaptions to reach platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. The podcast is recorded on Zoom to keep conversations natural and lively, but we use the audio not only for the podcast itself, but our social assets, which augment the audio with eye-catching graphics and a snippet from the episode for social media users to hear.
We’ve pushed beyond the traditional podcast ecosystem (Apple podcasts) to reach a broader audience through native post formats, as well as implemented strategic audience targeting via paid media campaigns. The firm has incorporated Spotify and SoundCloud into its distribution strategy, hosting a litany of episodes on the popular streaming platforms in order to be available wherever users are already listening to podcasts. In 2018, we started distributing on Sirius XM. To expand the reach further, we promote on other popular and content-relevant podcasts.
Exchanges episodes fall into three categories: The Tuesday episode is an in-depth conversation with one or several GS experts who provide data and analysis on stories that are driving the global economy. These run around 20 minutes and take listeners deep inside a topic or issue that’s relevant, offering a level of understanding that goes beyond headlines and shares insights that professionals at the firm are working with.
On Fridays, we have a newer addition, our Markets Update. Given interest in market performance, as well as our unique position at the center of global trading, we produce shorter, five-minute segments that look at the week that’s transpired and share what observers at the firm are considering as they plan for the week ahead. Each segment is hosted by Jake and features a guest from our trading floor, who can provide an up-close perspective from our securities and research desks.
In 2020, we expanded into special projects. Our “Deep Dive” miniseries harnessed expertise from across the firm’s divisions to weigh in on a single topic. Our four-part effort was an in-depth exploration of how digital transformation is upending industries, markets, regulation and human behavior. Drawing on professionals from investment banking, asset management, research and other groups, we were able to provide listeners with a holistic view of a story that’s often presented as disparate details without connecting the dots that a complex topic requires.
Over the past year, we’ve continued to prioritize making space to hear stories from Black colleagues. In February 2020, vice president Sean Legister spoke about overcoming imposter syndrome on the trading floor and what led him to start Breakfast Bites, a monthly fireside chat connecting Black colleagues with senior leaders. Then in June, after George Floyd’s murder, managing director Fred Baba gave a raw account of how he was feeling, both inside and out of work. This shows how we’re using our platform to bring racial diversity and inclusion to the forefront, just as we are through many other efforts within the firm.
Goldman Sachs produced approximately 100 original episodes of the Exchanges podcast in 2020. The series garnered 4.7 million total downloads in 2020, with an average of 49,761 downloads per episode.
Top-performing topics include:
1. Markets Update: How COVID-19 Is and Isn't Like the '08 Financial Crisis
2. What's the Outlook for the US Stock Market in 2020?
3. Markets Update: CEO David Solomon Shares His Perspectives on the Current Environment
4. What's Next for the Airline Industry?
5. How are "Carbonomics" Reshaping the Energy Industry?
In addition to organic promotion, Exchanges content utilizes paid promotion. Globally, Exchanges received 78M video views, 761M impressions, and 1.2M engagements. This year's top-performing content, “How are ‘Carbonomics’ Reshaping the Energy Industry?” (with guest Michele Della Vigna), received over 10M global video views.
