December 9, 2019 – In an age of short attention spans, video and smartphones, meet two guys successfully promoting the art of podcasting in Croatia – Sasa Tenodi and Ivan Voras from Surove Strasti (Raw Passions).
Podcasting is a media that has always somehow eluded me. Being a man of the written word in an era of video and Instagram, I wondered how podcasters managed to get people to listen to lengthy podcasts when less and less people were reading the written word. And so when I was invited to appear on a Croatian podcast called Surove Strasti, I was not that keen. I had never heard of it, and was pretty sure that nobody else had either. The thought of giving up a couple of hours for a programme that few would listen to was not one that filled me with joy. But Sasa was friendly, quietly persistent, and eventually a date was set.
“I was wondering when you would appear on the show,” said a friend when I mentioned my impending appearance over a drink. “Those guys are doing a fantastic job.”
“Great, I love that show,” said another. “Those guys have great guests and are really cool people.”
it seemed that – far from being an unknown podcast – I was the only person in Croatia who was unaware of the Surove Strasti podcast. And with over 160 guests already on the show, it was very well established.
And what can I say, I had a fantastic time meeting the men behind the Surove Strasti podcast – Sasa Tenodi and Ivan Voras. And by the end of the podcast, we had already become lifelong friends. And it was only fair that if they were interviewing me, I should return the favour. So here they are, the men behind the podcast, in their own words.
- Firstly, and forgive me, I am not so familiar with the podcasting world, and I am surprised that people are taking time to listen to podcasts in an era of such a short attention span. Tell us about the podcasting scene in Croatia, and why you decided to set up Surove Strasti?
Both of us listened to podcasts for a long time and learned a lot from them. Basically we figured out it’s a great excuse for meeting interesting people and to spread the word about those who are passionate enough about what they do to achieve substantial results and success. One day about two years ago we just started recording – without previous experience, without even a name for the podcast we were about to do. We just started inviting people – firstly those we knew, of course – and started recording out talk. Since then the project has spread and became a point of distribution of knowledge and encouragement for those interested in starting something on their own or just in listening to inspiring content. We’ve recorded over 170 episodes so far.
As far as we know we are still the only actual podcast in Croatia in the strict sense, with audio-only content distributed over a wide set of listening platforms. We are not really sure why that is, since we have collected a respectable audience and proven there’s space for this type of content. Contrary to mainstream thinking, it turned out that people enjoy long-form content and our episodes frequently last longer than an hour, sometimes two.
Our content is mostly in Croatian, but we occasionally host English-speaking guests and do the whole thing in English.
- Who is your target audience, and how is it going in succeeding to reach them?
Broadly speaking, our audience is those who want to hear interesting stories from more-or-less (un)known people who succeeded through following their passion and vision. It’s not only about entrepreneurs, though – a large part of our audience is not immediately interested in starting a business, they are happy just listening to our guests’ stories and mindset.
We have mostly spread organically, by word of mouth and some social network sharing. We’re happy with our growth so far, reaching about 25.000 unique visitors monthly, but we realise we’re after a niche audience in a small region.
- It was an honour to be featured recently, and I was actually very surprised at how many of my friends were big fans of the podcast when I told them I had been to your studio. Tell us about the audience you are building up. (You can listen to the TCN featured podcast here)
Our audience is mostly highly educated, almost perfectly split between men and women, and very varied in interests. It sometimes seems like our guests are our best audience, or at least good representatives of them. Each new guest brings like-minded listeners, and so it seems like we have a very eclectic audience.
- Independent media in Croatia is not as common as it should be, with one big reason for that being funding. How are you funding the podcast, and what kind of financial support and sponsors would you be keen to attract?
Our podcast Surove Strasti is currently a labour of love – or a hobby if that’s the better word. So far we didn’t go after content monetization, and because of the small market size, it’s doubtful there could be any direct monetization. Instead, we will focus on creating an education platform for more or less advanced and premium topics.
We’d love to find a sponsor who would be compatible with the goals of education and spreading the entrepreneurial spirit in all areas of life and industry.
- We talked for almost two hours and it could have gone on for another four. How do you judge when to stop, and what is the longest podcast so far.
The record holder so far is Krešimir Macan, who entertained us – or we entertained him – for 3 hours and 14 minutes, in episode #94. Our episodes are friendly and cosy conversations, and sometimes it seems like we could go on forever. In practice, we’re almost always limited by the time we or our guests can devote to recording before going off to another appointment.
- Tell us about the guests you have had on so far – which are the most listened to.
We keep top-10 lists for each year, the current one for 2019 is on this link. Some of the more prominent names on the list are Ivan Bengeri, who hosts a combination of a travel blog and a newsletter about cheap fares, Istok Pavlović, who is a successful marketing expert and entrepreneur, Miroslav Varga, a renowned expert on online marketing, Dalibor Šumiga, a world leading expert on neuromarketing and behavioural marketing, and Ilija Brajković and Petar Bogdan, a successful full service digital marketing agencies. It seems like marketing people do their best to market themselves and are prominent in our top-10 list, but there are also others – architects, life coaches, scientists and IT freelancers.
- Reflect on your journey so far. Are you satisfied with the progress so far, and where do you hope to be in a year?
We’ve made good progress so far, and we’re branching into other types of content and services which we think will find adequate audience. In 2020, we plan to start an education programme and to increase the production of articles and book summaries.
- Because my Croatian is so useless, my interview is in English. It struck me that an English podcast for the diaspora might be a hit. What do you think? Any initiatives in that direction?
Early on we’ve contacted radio stations broadcasting in Croatian around the globe, with an offer to syndicate our content, and didn’t get a positive response to that effort. In the context of Croatian diaspora we’d likely click only with those who emigrated very recently, as the older generation seems to be preoccupied with past matters.
We’ll see how the episodes we currently have in English fare, and if there’s enough interest, do more of those.
- And a little about yourselves. The podcast is your passion, but tell us a little about the cool things you are doing in real life.
Ivan Voras is an entrepreneur with a background in academic waters where he got his PhD in computer engineering. In a past life he was also an IT journalist, a developer for a bunch of open source projects, and interestingly enough, involved with blockchain projects to the point he wrote a book about it. He’s currently working on a startup developing a platform for interactive Augmented Reality content, named Equinox which aims to make AR accessible to marketers and the tourism industry.
Sasa Tenodi is a speaker and trainer dedicated and passionate about helping people to take control of their lives. With a Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences degree from the University of Zagreb and many years working as an expert in the field of Neuro-linguistic programming® (NLP).
You can follow the latest from Surove Strasti on the official website.
