With a two-year program, the mesacast has six permanent sponsors and targets new projects
730 days. 488 episodes. Almost 6 million subscribers. More than 1 billion views, joining official channel and cuts channel. These are the numbers of the most Zika podcast on the internet, as they describe themselves, or simply the Podpah.
Exactly two years ago, the first episode of the channel aired, presented by Igor Cavalari and Thiago Marques, known as Igo and Mtico. Knowing the two of them, it is easy to understand the size of the success and the proportion that the program has taken over the years.
With an unparalleled charisma and sympathy, the figure of both is easy to like and identify. Located in the west side of So Paulo, Igo and Mtico didn’t take the smile off their face for a minute and the sparkle in their eyes when talking about the program explains why they got where they are. And it was precisely that sparkle in the eyes and the personality of Igo and Mtico that attracted not only a loyal audience, but also brands.
Currently, the program has six permanent sponsors: Brahma, Chivas, Guaran Antarctica, Ita, Redbull and Trybe, but the program’s history with these major brands in the market began in the first episodes, with Habibs.
I think Podpah was responsible for bringing these brands into the podcast scene. Before, there were just a few sub-brands, very focused and specific… We managed, talking with Habib’s, to bring these great brands, recalled the CEO of Podpah, Victor Assis.
As it could not be otherwise, the partnership with the Arab food chain came about in an organic way and, according to Igo, in the first expressive live they had.
We had been dating Habib’s for a while. We like to make the organic. In an episode, which was the first that was really expressive and gave 100 thousand people on the live, we asked for Habib’s. We already had a good relationship with them, recalled the presenter.
From this contact, the cups stamped by the presenters emerged and more than 100 thousand people registered in the restaurant’s system. The partnership with Habibs was the starting point for the others to perceive the power that Igo and Mtico command on a daily basis, but it is curious to know that the presenters do not have the same perception of their contractors.
I think we are in a moment that we will only understand later on. We come from a generation that was difficult to have sponsorship of big brands. I think the brands didn’t trust them, TV and radio were the main focus, so every sponsorship that arrives is really cool”, stated Mtico.
the podpah cannon
Despite this, the confidence that brands place in the program is such that the program became the designer of the project.
We are free to sit down with the brand and ask what they want to do. Today, we design the delivery, not the other way around. But this happens because of the size that the podcast has become, the audience and what the boys have already shown in these two years of the program, being responsible, creative, engaged people… Brands come to us and say we want to do something with you, what do you want to do?, explained Assis.
Having this trust and the support of the brands was one of the reasons that leveraged and put Podpah in another place. Today, the program has projects that go beyond the stadium in the west of So Paulo, such as the Podpah de Vero, which, due to the demand for brands, will have two weeks of programming in January 2023.
The brands were also responsible for achieving one of the goals that Igo, Mtico, Victor and the entire program team set for 2022: being present at all major national events. No sooner said than done.
At the beginning of the year, we designed the projects for Podpah and one of them was to be present at the biggest events in the country that would happen that year. And we did it, celebrated the program’s CEO.
Podpah was present at Carnival in So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, at Lollapalooza, at Festa de Barretos, at Rock in Rio and at the World Cup in Qatar, with the goal of delivering 20 episodes in the four weeks of the championship.
We want to be the World Cup newscast, give updates in our own way, telling you what is happening, how is the street, the stadium, the weather… We will be there with the whole team, even to test other things, others formats, said Igo.
dream advertising
In fact, Podpah currently has some of the biggest national companies on its side, but that doesn’t stop Igo and Mtico from dreaming of partnerships that haven’t happened yet.
When asked which brands they would like to work with, even though they had trouble remembering something they hadn’t done yet, the presenters responded with high dreams.
If I were to dream, I wanted a brand of car. A Mercedes, a BMW… But one that I think would be really cool Apple, replied Igo.
Mtico also spoke of his desire to work with automakers and a tennis brand. A brand I really want to work with Jordan. I wanted the BMW too. I would be too happy, only products that I consume. It would be a dream, said the presenter.
Fresh air
The size, plans and dreams of Podpah made the space where they are located become small, so one of the milestones of these two years will be the new space in which the program will be hosted.
The new three-story studio in the west of So Paulo will be ready in mid-October and it will be there that the Podpah podcast and other programs in the house will be produced.
Along with the new stadium, Igo and Mtico will also have a team dedicated solely to taking care of advertising.
We are going to a new building and we feel the need to create a team to take care of and be more affectionate with these campaigns, because a lot is coming. We are very happy, but we want to deliver better than we already do. I really want Podpah to be a success in the advertising area, for brands to look at us and want to do something different, not just rice and beans, Mtico said.
The new stadium will mark a new moment for Podpah. A moment when they stop being just a mesacast and become a content hub. During the interview, the team highlighted the desire to have new programs, with new presenters.
According to Igo, two of these projects are already designed and Vitor said that one of them will be revealed during the program’s two-year special program, which will be broadcast this Wednesday (28).
