In late 2015,The Messageknocked podcast royaltyThis American Lifeoff the top of the iTunes charts. The eight-part series – from GE – attracted over a million listeners, becoming the most successful branded podcast to date. But why were people tuning into what’s essentially a long-form ad?

For a generation that are saddled with student debt and that are too skint to buy a house, personal finance can be confusing and stressful. In a marketing move that taps into Gen Y’s love of the podcast, Umpqua Bank is starting some valuable conversations about cash.

Averaging 2.2 million listeners per episode, NPR’sSerialpodcast is not just a cultural phenomenon, but a game-changer for a formally underappreciated medium. But why has the story of a 1999 murder in Baltimore struck such a chord? And what is it about the lure of audio that’s driving a talk radio revival?

Registering to vote is one of those boring things that's simultaneously extremely important, surprisingly simple and incredibly easy to forget about. If only there was an easy way of being reminded to do it. For a group of young digital creatives, there's a simple solution – goat gifs.