In Finland, Podme and MTV have found each other. Together, they have offered the Finnish audiences a Love Island spin-off podcast and video podcast, hosted by one of the country’s most popular podcasters. And now they are looking into more collaboration opportunities.
“The whole Finnish team finds the collaboration with MTV incredibly exciting,” says Henna Helske, Country Manager of Podme in Finland.
“We’ve been part of Schibsted for three years, but we’ve felt a bit on our own. We haven’t had access to a wider ecosystem or other colleagues in Finland. Now, suddenly, MTV, this huge, well-known Finnish brand, is part of Schibsted. It gives us both so many more opportunities,” she continues.
Attractive for borth sides
The Love Island collaboration actually began before Schibsted’s acquisition of TVM was finalised or made public. During the first phase of production, Podme and MTV worked without being aware of the process that was happening behind the scenes.
“This partnership started because it was genuinely attractive for both sides. Podme has a younger audience, which is valuable for MTV. MTV, on the other hand, has a wide audience, and is especially strong amongst men and the age group 40+,” explains Henna.
Iina Eloranta leads MTV’s content and channels unit and is working with the Podme cooperation.
“Since our target groups complement each other, I’m looking forward to seeing what the cooperation can lead to”, she says.
The front figure of the Love Island project, Niko Saarinen, has run his podcast Nikotellen for six years, in 2022, he joined Podme. He is also a reality TV personality and hosts the Finnish version of Love Island, which airs on MTV. In the Love Island podcast, audiences got the inside scoop on what happened after the cameras stopped rolling. Contestants who were voted off in the latest episode joined Nico to tell more about their experiences.
Building buzz
IIna also sees the podcast format as a way of building buzz around their content.
“We want to reach all Finns with great content – one way of achieving this is to create strong engagement around our programmes.”
They both believe that the Love Island pilot was a valuable first project.
“Going forward,we aim to produce more joint content collaborations, says Henna. We’ll explore the different formats in depth and identify which podcasts work best for larger screens and create a stronger user experience.”
For the ongoing collaboration, three key focus areas have been identified: advertising, content and business development.
But perhaps most importantly, Henna appreciates her new colleagues:
“It’s so fun and easy to collaborate. We’ve received so much help – and together we’re starting to build a Schibsted ecosystem here in Finland.”
Iina also appreciates her new colleagues.
“It’s great to learn more about audio content from the best professionals in Finland.
