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COVAULT/COBALT MEDIA
A PILOT podcast for a Scottish influencer that racked up 10,000 downloads in its first week has proved to be the catalyst for the expansion of a fledgling media company, writes Nan Spowart.
Now Cobalt Media records podcasts and videos in a state-of-the-art studio and is set to be the official media provider for the biggest fitness event of its kind ever to be held in Scotland.
Up to 1000 fitness enthusiasts will compete at the two day CrossFit Competition Proving Grounds in the SEC on October 21 and 22 this year, with Cobalt Media providing the livestream, commentary and other media services.
“Proving Grounds is the first one of its kind on such a scale and will be an exciting showcase for us and what we can offer people,” said Graeme McMillan who set up Cobalt Media with his wife, Jenna and partner Simon Lovelock.
Netball Scotland has also signed up the company to provide livestreams of its events. It is fast growth for a business that only got off the ground in July last year after the McMillans decided to start a podcast for the members of their gym, Win Fitness.
They made such a good job that one of their members, influencer Jess Tedds who is better known on Instagram as JustJessFood, asked if they could help her set up her own podcast with friend Zoe Quinn.
They were happy to take on the challenge and converted their physio room into a soundproofed studio with new high-end equipment.
They produced a pilot episode of the podcast now known as A Lot On Your Plate, which “just exploded” and has now racked up over 200,000 downloads.
The response was enough to convince the McMillans to set up a company and move into a new 400sq ft studio on top of the CoVault building in Hamilton.
BUSINESS IS BOOMING
Having a dedicated space has helped them take on more business. Now being the only dedicated podcast studio in the area, it’s also a great location to meet new clients about external work. The quick growth has vindicated their decision to move into the new studio although Graeme said CoVault helped to make it easy for them by not tying them into a long term lease.
“Their set-up in this building of a flexible workspace is perfect for us.” he said. “They give us the freedom to do what we need to do within the studio so if we want to paint the walls or put up a backdrop they are very flexible about that as well. And not being tied into a really long lease made the decision for us to take that leap.
“The new premises cut down our set-up time and the space allowed us to create multiple sets and looks for our clients.
“It also shows a level of commitment from us for clients as we are willing to invest. We are really passionate about this work – we were doing it anyway for the gym, creating content and podcasts and so we developed the skillset to be really able to do it well and help others create their own,” Graeme said.
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