The goal of Unknown 9: Out of Sight scripted podcast is to expand the transmedia Storyworld of Unknown 9 by telling stories that intertwine and impact plotlines that are taking place simultaneously on various media such as the novels, web series, comic books, and the upcoming AAA video game Unknown 9: Awakening. All of this interconnected media is known as the Storyworld, what many other transmedia companies might refer to as an IP’s universe. The uniqueness of a Storyworld comes from all of its connections across mediums and products that are all planned out in detail prior to launch and do not rely on a main central product like most transmedia IP’s.
Over the years, there’s been a rise in popularity for mystery & thriller genre podcasts.
These types of podcasts catered to and attracted the audience that we were trying to reach for the broader Unknown 9 universe. The podcast acted as a key gateway to bring in a new audience base in addition to providing additional content to an already engaged fanbase looking to dive deeper into the Storyworld.
The goal for the Unknown 9: Out of Sight podcast was to build a multiple season story cycle that allowed for the IP to connect, expand and touch upon other ongoing story lines. It adds value to other products while also being a compelling story able to stand alone. This is what made it unique, because it supports the over-arching Storyworld.
The first season of the podcast is connected to our other products like Unknown 9: Chapters, an interactive online experience, and helps to additionally lay the groundwork and introduce concepts and factions that are present throughout the Storyworld in other upcoming products.
The first season of the Unknown 9: Out of Sight focuses on Blake Elrich, an urban explorer with a haunted past, who travels the country in an old RV with his partner and producer Lazari. At every stop along their journey, they encounter an inexplicable occurrence—something that could not be happening. What’s more, they’re beginning to suspect that someone is leading them to each strange case. Events intensify when an enigmatic figure emerges, terrorizing whole communities. Blake and Lazari must now race to undo the damage that's already been done and prevent a terrifying force from emerging... The podcast’s 9 episodes are:
Reflector Entertainment partnered with Midroll for cross-promotion and chose similar podcasts to talk about Out of Sight. The teams focused on using social to bring the podcast to life with unique teaser audio clips, presenting intriguing character facts, and hosting a Facebook live event for fans with the actors, producers & writers. They also posted the first episode on YouTube to help further build the brands SEO. The music is composed by Yuichiro Oku who creates music for the whole U9 Storyworld and Reflector’s production partner is the great Gideon Media.
Unknown 9: Out of Sight was a huge success thanks to our strategy and implementation for the podcast. Already in the first season we have managed to build a strong audience base that helped us gains ranks on a couple top charts, including Apple Podcast.
4.9 stars on 5 rating on Chartable.
We wanted to engage a new audience so we partnered with Midroll which brought new ears to our podcast. Reach of over half a million. We appeared on the following podcasts:
Highlight of Reviews:
5 Stars - Robigawgs “Fun modern radio drama - Great Writing, solid performances, streamlined storytelling.”
5 Stars – ReganDael “Shook - Listening to this podcast is amazing. I am a huge fan of all things weird and unbelievable, and this podcast captures that perfectly. It is absolutely insane to hear these stories that other people have had, and Im glad I’ve had minor experiences compared to these. Also, I did hear her voice in the white noise of your recording. You are not crazy.”
5 Stars – T-Surfer “ Just WOW…!!! – This is the podcast I’ve been looking for! At first I thought it was going to be episode(s) of strange and weird stories, but when I discovered it was one long story I was beyond happily surprised. Thank you to the creators and look forward to the rest of it to come.”
