BERLIN-CHEMIE Menarini, the German company part of the Menarini Group, launched an innovative and original initiative in September 2020: The weekly podcast “EinBlick – Der Podcast” (a play on the words ein Blick, a glance, and Einblick, insight), that addresses topics in health policy, pharmaceutical policy and digital health.

The podcast is one of today’s fastest growing digital communication formats. A podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files made available on the internet. Podcasts can be streamed live or, using special software, can be archived, downloaded and then listened to offline. The word podcast was invented in 2004, when in the midst of the iPod buzz, The Guardian journalist Ben Hammerslay suggested this new term (a combination of iPod and broadcast) to describe the boom in consumption of  radio content via the internet. 

Today, the podcast has a strong presence in the global communication landscape, and differs from other content, such as radio, because it is asynchronous, on demand, available online and offline and playable on almost every smartphone, tablet or laptop. Moreover, a podcast can accompany its listeners in any activity without hindering their task. The audio nature of the content is very convenient, because it allows listeners to walk around with their phone in their pocket, without having to look at the screen. 

Moreover, the podcast can have different formats: the four most used are repurposed content, interview, conversational and narrative. A repurposed content podcast focuses on reiterating a story available in other mediums, such as print, video or even radio broadcasts that have been adapted to the podcast format. An interview podcast is a structured conversation between an interesting or important guest and a journalist or host. A conversational podcast has some similarities with an interview, but since it is a free talk, the tone is different. The result can therefore be much more genuine, making the conversational podcast one of the most effective formats. Lastly, the narrative format is considered to be the forerunner of podcasts, because it tells real stories with an emotional description of current events, historical facts, biographies, etc. These formats make the podcast an extremely versatile tool for the audience, suitable for different uses and purposes. 

This is why podcasts are becoming one of the preferred tools to enhance corporate storytelling or to simply give updates on current topics. The numbers say it all: in 2020, around 100 million people listened to a podcast each month, and this figure is expected to reach 125 million per month in 2022.

The variety of topics that can be covered in a podcast makes it possible to share valuable scientific, medical and pharmaceutical content. For the healthcare sector, the podcast has proven to be an extremely effective tool. The sober informative style emphasizes the promotion of topics related to health and prevention.

Online information, while immediately available, is often unreliable or simply incorrect. Through well thought out content, podcasts can explore or challenge the questions and fears that lead from this.
Giving a voice to medical experts and professionals also strengthens a company’s image and helps to raise awareness of its initiatives.

This is the case of EinBlick, the BERLIN-CHEMIE Menarini podcast, which talks about German health policy every week for around 13-minutes. The Podcast can be accessed free of charge every Friday at 12 o’clock. The first episode was launched in September 2020, and has continued since then, alongside the EinBlick newsletter, which is issued every three weeks. 

“Podcasts offer many advantages: you don’t have to be sitting in your office to listen to them; you can do it in your car, in the subway, while jogging or sitting on your couch”, says Dr. Susanne Eble, Head of Health Management at BERLIN-CHEMIE Menarini. ”Around thirteen minutes per episode is not a lot, yet in this relatively short time we can convey a lot of information and engage in meaningful discussions. The lively, compact format of the podcast is a great addition to our newsletter EinBlick, which also addresses current health policy matters.” 

The podcast features the most significant information, updates on pharmaceutical policy and trends in the digital health sector. It is aimed not only at professionals, but at anyone interested to follow the company’s developments or the wider scientific environment.

Most recently, in June 2021, the EinBlick family has grown by another informative pillar, which particularly focuses on exciting dialogs with experts on background information and opinions. With the additional podcast series “EinBlick – nachgefragt” (nachgefragt standing for inquired) interviews and discussions with experts from the healthcare industry are available at any time.

The regular use of online audio in Germany is steadily increasing: more than 45 million users in 2021 listened to online web radio or audio-on-demand content at least once a month, an increase of 5.3% compared to 2020. Moreover, according to surveys, around 14 million users in Germany regularly listen to podcasts (+ 21.3% compared to 2020). Of these users, one in three is under the age of 30, although users in their 50s are also gradually embracing this new world. With Spotify in first place among the most used platforms (48.5%), YouTube follows a close second place (44%) and the well-known Apple Podcasts (12.5%) and Google Podcasts (9.5%) hold seventh and ninth place.

This development shows that BERLIN-CHEMIE Menarini is not only a company that is able to meet the needs of its target audience, but also a positive example of an innovative company, strengthening its brand’s credibility and authority by making often difficult and  complex topics easy to understand.