THE 6TH ANNUAL MERCURY PODCAST FESTIVAL
Formerly known as the SMG Podcast Marathon
The Mercury Podcast Festival is a free online event. Each night of the festival will consist of 4 hours of podcasts on video streaming on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook .
Mercury: The ancient Roman god who served as messenger of the gods, a mediator between gods and mortals, a bearer of messages or news, and is also the god of eloquence.
What exactly is this project? The Mercury Podcast Festival is a free online event. The podcasts will be presented as videos and stream to Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube. Videos of the Mercury Podcast Festival are free to view through the day following the festival.
How did we get here? Back in 2015, the first SMG Podcast Marathon was staged in front of a live audience at the Blue Box Café in Elgin, IL. The event featured 14 hours of live podcasts. In 2016, it was expanded to 16 hours live at the Blue Box Café and added a concurrent live streaming marathon on YouTube featuring an entirely different lineup. Each year since, SMG has experimented with and altered the marathon to keep it fresh and innovative. In 2018, SMG created the Women in Podcasting Festival which was staged live at the Otherworld Theatre in Chicago, followed by live marathons from the convention floor at Indy Pop Con in Indianapolis (2 years in a row), and a 6-hour event with C2E2 at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago. And that brings us to today… With the global pandemic keeping venues closed to the public, the ability to hold the 6th annual SMG Podcast Marathon, or any of the other events, became impossible (at least in their original forms). An online event was the obvious next evolution, yet this meant fundamental changes in how to pull off such an event. This is how the Mercury Podcast Festival was born.
What makes Mercury unique? There are a lot of other podcast marathons and festivals out there now, yet only a few are online. Many are more about the business of podcasting or trying to emulate big music festivals, with celebrity acts and few “others” sprinkled in. Mercury is all about it the indie podcast; the outsider that has a fresh take, an interesting perspective, and a great story to tell. Just like its predecessor, the SMG Podcast Marathons, Mercury is a celebration of independent podcasters, creativity, and unique voices.
Follow SMG Podcast Marathon on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates and lineup changes.
Follow Mercury Podcast Festival on Facebook and @SMGPodMarathon on Twitter for the latest updates and line-up changes.
Samples from previous festivals
We have to raise at least $2,000 each year to pay for admin fees, equipment, marketing expenses and PR. Your sponsorship dollars will be applied to the fund to support the Mercury Podcast Festival.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Let us desing a custom sponsorship package for your business.
