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Great Falls podcast hosts see increase in listeners during COVID-19 pandemic

Posted at 11:05 PM, Apr 06, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-07 01:05:26-04

According to the online podcast analytics service Podtrac, podcast downloads have steadily decreased throughout March, while many listeners are in quarantine. But Great Falls podcast hosts Ryan and Becky Acra said they’ve seen an increase in their audience recently.

“It’s actually been an uptake for us in being able to book guests and kinda get things going,” Ryan Acra said, “Being in Great Falls it’s not easy necessarily to get guests so we’ve been using Zoom and Skype and FaceTime since we started.”

The Acras had an upper-hand on other podcast genres like sports, since their primary source of content - people with unique stories- are still available.

“There’s a lot of people that can’t get the content that they used to produce their podcasts so we’re lucky in that sense that we have a platform that allows us to really be successful during this time,” Ryan Acra said.

Ryan speculated as to why podcast downloads have been downward trending: “I read some similar things that podcasts have been on the decline and I think that has to do with people not driving as much, not working out in the gym as much. That’s where people often do listen to their podcasts. So I think that makes sense to some degree during quarantine.”

Although national podcasts are trending downward, Bleav in the Get It Factory was just renewed for a second season; Becky said, “It brings a level of legitimacy I think that we didn’t have before we kinda always had to prove ourselves."

"Bleav In The Get It Factory" podcast, formerly known as The Get It Factory podcast, has been streaming since 2018, sharing stories of successful men and women from Montana and beyond.

“We’re just really, I guess, a human-interest-based show. So we love to interview people who’ve found success in one way or another,” Becky said.

The couple’s goal is to use their platform to connect with their community during this time of widespread isolation. “When this happened, I looked at Ryan and said we have to use this as an opportunity. People are going to be looking for content, looking for ways to get away, get out of that anxiety and anxiousness of quarantine and we really hit the ground running,” Becky said.

The Acras hope their podcast allows listeners to feel a sense of connection.

“We’ve always been people-people...I think at the end of the day people need people,” Becky Acra said.

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