The Times Media podcast division faced a highly competitive, fast-moving market where rivals were accelerating digital audio growth, and advertisers demanded greater impact. Internally, there was a lack of scalable commercial infrastructure, limited monetisation products, and needed to align editorial creativity with commercial strategy, without diluting the Times’ premium identity.

With podcasts still emerging as a strategic revenue stream, the business needed a transformative leader to create structure, innovate revenue products, and rapidly scale sales. Amber Neary stepped into this challenge, tasked with defining a clear commercial strategy, expanding client relationships, and establishing The Times as a market-leading, differentiated audio proposition.

Amber has completely transformed The Times Media podcast business by combining strategic vision, editorial alignment, and commercial ingenuity. She represented the division in senior internal forums and editorial alignment meetings, ensuring every podcast’s commercial strategy was connected to broader business objectives. Externally, she positioned The Times as a thought leader, speaking on panels with directors and industry leaders while cultivating high-value client relationships.

She redefined the commercial proposition with new sales collateral, sizzle reels, upsell packages, and the first branded episodes, creating significant new revenue streams. She conceived and launched The Business Podcast, designing both editorial and commercial strategies to maximise audience engagement and sponsorship revenue.

Innovation extended into technology: she implemented AI-powered planning tools like Ask Amber, enabling data-driven campaign targeting, dynamic planning, and multi-platform optimisation. She diversified clients across newsletters, digital display, and podcasts, while building structured onboarding and revenue strategies for new shows.

Amber also nurtures talent, mentoring colleagues and embedding best practices, helping the wider commercial team adopt agile, data-informed approaches. By combining bold brand innovation, tech-enabled insights, and relentless client engagement, she has turned Times podcasts into a market-leading, high-performing business that delivers creative, measurable, and scalable results, establishing her as a transformational leader in audio and digital publishing.

Amber has delivered record-breaking growth and market impact for The Times podcast business. Amber created a new branded content product and delivered 20 campaigns, unlocking new revenue in 2025. ‘The Business Podcast’ became the largest-ever solus deal, reaching number 2 on Apple Business charts and strengthening brand authority. She expanded advertising into newsletters, display, and cross-platform packages, and also secured one of the largest podcast renewal deals in company history, cementing strategic client partnerships.

Amber has established podcasts as a core pillar of the business and is setting standards for the industry.

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