Podcast advertising agency Oxford Road is launching its own awards shows to honor independent podcasts and creators.
Hosted by podcaster and rapper Killer Mike, the Independent Podcast and Creator Awards show is set to take place at SXSW in Austin on March 15. Nominees include some top-charting names, such as Steven Bartlett (The Diary of a CEO), Theo Von (This Past Weekend) and Tim Ferriss (The Tim Ferriss Show), as well as breakout creators including Caleb Hearon (So True With Caleb Hearon), Kendall Rae (True Crime with Kendall Rae) and Hala Taha (Young and Profiting).
Featured jurors for the inaugural Indie PaC Awards include Ashley Flowers, host and founder of Crime Junkie and audiochuck; James Cridland, editor of Podnews; Hernan Lopez, founder of Wondery and The Podcast Academy and Gladwell Mwangi, paid media enablement lead at Whole Foods. Libsyn is the founding sponsor.
To be eligible, the nominees must have had IP ownership and full editorial control of the podcast. Projects also must show that they are truly indie (i.e. not receiving a minimum guarantee or upfront payment from a major audio platform) to be eligible.
In addition to independence, submissions were sourced via Oxford Road’s data on how much of a return on investment their advertisers received from an ad placement on the shows, as well as brand safety and a minimum ad spend. Oxford Road calls itself the “world’s largest podcasting agency.”
Additionally the podcast could not be “primarily a promotional vehicle for a top-tier celebrity for whom this is secondary to their main career,” with edge cases decided by the jury. This narrowed down the pool to about 6,500 shows.
“Independent creators tore down the gates,” said Dan Granger, CEO of Oxford Road. “They proved you don’t need a network, a studio or anyone’s permission to build an audience that trusts you. The Indie PaC Awards exist to recognize the creators who took that risk, the brands brave enough to back them early, and the work that makes people hit subscribe.”
The awards show will comprise 10 categories judged by the jury, including best independent interview show, comedy, business and entrepreneurship show and independent creator of the year. The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, The Ben Shapiro Show and The MeidasTouch Podcast are nominees for creator of the year.
Three awards, highest impact, highest volume and breakout performer, will be determined by Oxford Road’s data. The show will also present the Patron Awards for brands investing in independent creators and a lifetime achievement award for a podcast creator.
