One of the UK’s biggest golf media brands is celebrating after landing another major industry accolade.
For the second year running, the bunkered Podcast – the official pod of Scotland’s biggest-selling golf title bunkered – has been named the Best Sport Podcast at the Publisher Podcast Awards, staged in London earlier this week.
The free, weekly show, hosted by bunkered’s digital editor Michael McEwan and editor Bryce Ritchie, fended off stiff competition to successfully retain the award it won in 2021.
Judges praised the show for “the irreverence and repartee between the hosts” which they said “kept the subject matter fresh and interesting, even to listeners with little knowledge”.
This is the latest major piece of UK-wide industry recognition for the show that launched in August 2020 but which has already proven itself to be a massively successful brand extension for bunkered.
Comfortably the No.1 ‘golf media’ podcast in the UK, the show has cemented itself as one of the top-5 most listened-to golf podcasts in the country, peaking (on multiple occasions) at No.2.
It has also charted inside the top-5 in key international golf territories, including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Portugal and Spain, helping to develop a global audience for the brand. Indeed, to date, the show has recorded downloads in 137 of the world’s 190 countries and currently holds an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 on Apple Podcasts.
Accepting the award, bunkered editor Bryce Ritchie remarked: “Winning our first award last year was a significant achievement for us having just moved into the podcast world, but to impress the judges again – and in the face of such stiff competition – shows that we’ve not taken our foot off the gas.
“That’s how we’re viewing our digital landscape these days. You’ve got to keep pushing and progressing what you do because your audience expects it. We continue to fight against the big players and comfortably hold our own.
“Personally, I’d like to thank digital editor Michael McEwan for his tireless work behind the scenes to bring the podcast to life and, as always, Chris Phin at DC Thomson who has been a constant source of support and guidance and a great sounding board for our ideas.”
Digital editor Michael McEwan added: “To receive such recognition from the industry is both fantastic affirmation for the podcast and testament to the huge digital strides that we are making.
“We are extremely grateful to be surrounded by exceptional colleagues here at DC Thomson, who continue to give us the platform to make the show. We are also fortunate to have been joined by an array of terrific guests, whilst our band of loyal listeners is growing week on week.
“We still class ourselves as relative newcomers to this space and have big plans for developing the show and taking it to the next level.”
Chris Phin, Head of Podcasts at DC Thomson, said: “What a privilege it is to get so very close to folks who love golf, being right there with them, feeding their passion for the game wherever they have an hour they want to fill with knowledge, passion and chat. Along with bunkered in print, the podcast lets us do what we love best: champion golf, right from the home of golf, all across the world.”
The bunkered Podcast is available on all major podcast platforms.