Across its network, City Cast has 190,000 monthly listeners and 350,000 subscribers to its free newsletters, according to Plotz. Denver is its largest audio market, with 30,000 listeners, while D.C. and Chicago tie for its largest readership base, with around 45,000 subscribers apiece.

Each city has four or five staff—an executive producer, audio producer, host, newsletter writer and salesperson. City Cast also has a back office of around 20, which covers functions like marketing and sales support. 

To heighten its local feel, the podcast and newsletter are each created by a recurring host, who is often from the city they cover.

By developing these longstanding, intimate relationships with their audience, City Cast is hoping to tap into the same dynamic that made terrestrial radio a source of consistent listenership, according to Ariel Shapiro, formerly the lead writer at podcast newsletter Hot Pod.

“City Cast is taking its references from local radio, which is not a bad thing,” Shapiro said. “I think that’s smart. What makes a podcast succeed? People get attached to their hosts.”

Local advertising insulates City Cast

The publisher’s growth takes place during otherwise turbulent podcasting times, according to Barletta. Major figures in the space, like Spotify and SiriusXM, have laid off thousands of staff, while higher interest rates have dried up the free-flowing capital that once subsidized the booming industry.

City Cast’s focus on local advertisers, however, has helped insulate it from many of these economic headwinds.

“City Cast is able to offer to local advertisers a level of direct access and unique value proposition to spenders who don’t feel as well taken care of in other mediums,” Barletta said.

The publisher generates revenue mainly through advertising, although about 10% of its business comes from its membership model.

The membership tier provides listeners perks, such as an ad-free experience and exclusive content, but City Cast plans to make the offerings more robust. For now, Plotz said, they are essentially a means for listeners to support the company.

Of its advertising business, the majority of revenue comes from host-read ads and sponsored interviews. Only around 10% of its ad business comes from programmatic sources, according to Plotz.

The newsletter also adds another touchpoint for advertising, which Plotz referred to as an action medium that accompanies the emotional medium of audio.

The company has primarily focused on working with local businesses, such as grocery stores, festivals and museums. Many of its ad buys include inventory in the newsletter as well.

It recently signed a six-figure deal with the Western brand Tecovas, which will serve as the launch sponsor of the Austin and Nashville locations. The multichannel sponsorship will include several months of advertising, as well as in-store activations that feature local musicians and cultural marchers.

This focus on local insulates City Cast from the kind of competition for ad dollars that animates the open web, where a handful of platforms dominate spending, according to Barletta.

“All of advertising operates in cycles,” Barletta said, “but I hope and expect that City Cast’s difficulties will not be the same as the rest of the industry because they built a model around audio anchored in local.”