Chora

During the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic, the former director of established Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, Mario Calabresi, shared his desire to explore the potential of podcast series with Guido Maria Brera, Mario Gianani, and Roberto Zanco. So they launched the podcasting start-up Chora (in Greek: village) in November 2020.So far, they have produced more than 80 podcast series. The main sections are news, investigations, talks, and branded content (original stories with a sponsor). Chief operating officer Filippo Capriotti explained: "The podcasting sector is not yet profitable, but the co-founders believe in the quality of the content produced. The audio format manages to combine journalistic rigour with entertainment."A growing source of revenue comes from exclusive rights sales to platforms such as Spotify, followed by sales to publishing and movie companies.In 2022, the start-up launched the first edition of the Chora Academy, an online podcasting masterclass offered for free. Over 4,000 people applied.In the future, Chora aims to become an international media actor, regularly producing content in English, French, and Spanish.