Dino Sofos

Why organisations work with Dino Sofos

• He has built category-leading shows in two different genres, launching Dua Lipa’s At Your Service as Persephonica’s first title and co-creating The News Agents, which hit 24 million downloads in seven months.
• He ran BBC News Podcasts for long enough to learn what works at scale: 85 million downloads across Brexitcast, Americast and Newscast during his tenure as editor.
• He understands the commercial crossover between audio and broadcast, having been the first editor to transfer a current affairs podcast, Brexitcast, onto BBC One in 2019.
• He speaks from operator experience, not commentary, which makes him useful to executives weighing real decisions about content, talent and audience strategy.

Biography highlights

• Founder and CEO of Persephonica, an independent audio production company established in 2021.
• Former Editor of BBC News Podcasts, with 14 years at the BBC.
• Creator of Brexitcast, Americast and Newscast for the BBC.
• Brexitcast won the Listeners’ Choice award at the British Podcast Awards 2019.
• Co-creator of The News Agents with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall, produced in partnership with Global.
• Producer of Dua Lipa: At Your Service, featuring guests including Elton John, Amal Clooney and Pedro Almodovar.

Biography

Brexitcast started inside the BBC as an experiment in how political reporters talked to each other when the cameras were off. Dino Sofos was the editor who turned that informal energy into a format, then into a habit, then onto BBC One in 2019, the first time a current affairs podcast had crossed over to television.

That move, and the 85 million downloads accumulated by BBC News Podcasts during his editorship, gave him a specific kind of knowledge. He understands how audio formats work commercially, how much of audience loyalty is structural rather than topical, and why most attempts to manufacture habit fail in the first six weeks.

He left the BBC in 2021 to found Persephonica. The company launched with Dua Lipa’s At Your Service, featuring guests from Elton John to Pedro Almodovar, and followed with The News Agents, co-created with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall in partnership with Global. The News Agents became the UK’s most downloaded daily news podcast, reaching 24 million downloads in seven months.

For organisations trying to build their own audience, his value is less about podcasting as a channel and more about the operating discipline behind it: choosing the right voices, designing formats that reward return listening, and running the commercial side of attention without losing the editorial instinct that attracted people in the first place.

Key speaking topics

• Podcasting and digital audio strategy
• Building loyal audiences at scale
• Creative entrepreneurship and independent production
• Talent identification and format design
• Editorial innovation in news and current affairs
• Commercial models for original content

Ideal for

• CMOs and communications directors weighing investment in owned audio and content formats
• Media, publishing and broadcasting leaders considering how to adapt for a podcast-first audience
• Founders and heads of content designing subscriber or listener strategies
• HR and internal comms leaders looking at audio for employee engagement and leadership storytelling

Audience outcomes

• A clearer sense of what separates shows that build habit from content that merely accumulates views.
• Practical reference points from launching chart-topping podcasts in both celebrity and news formats.
• Specific lessons from editorial formats such as Brexitcast, Americast and The News Agents on pairing talent with structure.
• A working view of the commercial and talent economics of independent production.