00:00:00: Hello there, I'm Anna and this is Feed Dive, Podigy's podcast about, well, all things podcasting.

00:00:06: For the first time we're bringing you the show in English and since it's our debut episode addressed at English-speaking listeners, fans of Podigy and podcasting aficionados in Europe and beyond, we thought we polite to dedicate this one to the history and the people behind Podigy.

00:00:23: a Berlin-based podcast hosting company launched in twenty thirteen as a site project by two colleagues, Mateusz Sujka, also called Mati, and Ben Zimmer.

00:00:33: Today, seven years later, Portigy is the largest podcast tech company in Germany and one of the biggest podcasting players in Europe.

00:00:41: But how has it all started?

00:00:43: What contributed to the Portigy's success?

00:00:45: What were the challenges and the breakthrough moments?

00:00:49: How is the Covid-nineteen pandemic impacting podcasting and the company today?

00:00:53: To get some answers for these and a few more of my questions, I invited Mati, the Polygy CEO and a co-founder, as well as Jürgen Kraus, head of content at Polygy.

00:01:05: So I think let's dive into it.

00:01:21: Hi Mati, hi Jürgen.

00:01:22: It's great to finally talk to you.

00:01:24: Hi Anna.

00:01:25: Hi, it's nice to be here.

00:01:27: Welcome to this English version of the Feed Dive podcast.

00:01:30: Are you excited to be switching from German into English for a moment?

00:01:34: or rather petrified.

00:01:35: I feel it's an important step.

00:01:37: The message we've been sending so far in our German podcast, I think it deserves actually to get out a little bit.

00:01:45: So some more people, it makes me feel excited to reach maybe other people that we use to reach with the other one.

00:01:51: Yeah, it's really interesting because podcasting is such a global phenomena now and there are no real boundaries to podcasting.

00:01:58: And yet we focus usually on our small German market.

00:02:02: So I guess it's really interesting for us to open our mind a bit and see what's beyond the German borders.

00:02:08: We are on a mission today to talk about the story and the people behind PolyG and to introduce the company and the people to the wider audience, so to say.

00:02:18: And I need to say at the beginning that when I fought about twenty thirteen, when they maybe not company, as we will shortly probably find out, but the project, so to say, was launched And when I thought about myself in twenty thirteen, I'm pretty sure I didn't know back then what podcasting was and podcasts were.

00:02:38: And whether I was alone in my lack of experience and knowledge, I will ask you guys in a minute.

00:02:43: But when we think about podcasting now, as you said, I mean, it's massive.

00:02:47: I'm not sure whether I live in a kind of a podcasting bubble.

00:02:50: I hope not.

00:02:51: But it seems like everyone has a podcast these days.

00:02:55: I mean, including the former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, Germany's.