Collaborative Storytelling: A Comparative Case Study on Influencer Podcasts

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines the phenomena of personal branding. Empirically, it uses two different commercial podcasts made by influencers as comparative case study examples. To explore and contrast how these two cases use collaborative storytelling as a strategy to establish authenticity in the sponsored advertisement segments, empirical data was collected from the audio-material of the podcasts and from in-depth interviews with 11 regular weekly listeners of the podcasts. The thesis uses a theoretical synthesis of para-social relationship theory – combined with narrative theory and analysis – to examine the podcast audio-material and listener interviews. The findings of the study show that being honest about imperfections, using humor, cheerfulness, passion and conversing about self-improvement are a recurring part of how authenticity is constructed as well as the identification of the listeners with the podcast storyworld, which include the sponsored advertisements.