Marketplace
Impact Report—February 2023
Marketplace’s Million Bazillion indulges kids’ curiosity about money
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Million Bazillion is a financial literacy podcast from Marketplace, an award-winning suite of business and economic programs that raises the economic intelligence of the country. The podcast launched in July of 2020 as Marketplace’s first-ever kids’ podcast. The show’s first three seasons, totaling 21 episodes, have been a hit with more seasons on the way.
In the summer of 2022, Ryan Perez joined Million Bazillion’s third season as a new host. Some of the answered questions included “Why is it so awkward to talk about money? Why can’t kids have jobs? And what’s the deal with inflation?” Season three saw its highest monthly download totals ever – up 24% from the previous season.
Impact:
Million Bazillion Academy launches
Million Bazillion’s mission is to make kids smarter about money and the team has always been looking for ways to do that beyond the podcast. In 2022, Million Bazillion launched Million Bazillion Academy, a free email newsletter course to help kids set savings goals, shop smart and have better conversations about money. Over 2,000 families signed up for the first Million Bazillion Academy course. The four-part course includes a new lesson released each week that families complete at their own pace. Each lesson comes with a podcast episode, a comic, discussion questions and a fun activity that lets kids apply what they learned in the real world. There are plans to make an even greater impact in 2023 by increasing the offerings and adding new lessons.
Million Bazillion indulges kids’ curiosity about money and introduces them to financial literacy topics in a fun, approachable way. Through the podcast and Million Bazillion Academy, Marketplace is fulfilling its mission to make everyone smarter about business, money and the economy—including kids. The primary audience is kids between the ages of 5 and 12.
Most POPULAR EPISODE:
The season three premiere episode answered the question, “What is a credit card and how does it work?”
The episode had more downloads in its first seven days and first 30 days than any other episode in the previous two seasons.
ACCOLADES:
Nominated for the 26th Annual Webby Awards in the category of Best Kids & Family Podcasts.
Reach:
Million Bazillion averages
Million Bazillion is a
top 15 kids’ podcast
(#14 ranked in Podtrac based on U.S. audience size)
Million Bazillion’s audience is
50% BIPOC,
the most racially/ethnically diverse, engaged audience of any APM podcast that has been measured
More than
Numbers reported reflect the data as of October 2022.
Acknowledgement:
Thank you to our sponsors:
Community Response:
My 9-year-old son and I love this show because it is fun, interesting and informative. Thank you for covering various interesting topics to educate and entertain us in the financial, economy and global market fields.”
– Yoko, UT
A must-listen for families with kids!
This podcast is wonderful for kids and parents. I first listened to it with my family on a road trip, and I’ve LOVED it ever since. If you are looking to find a money podcast for your kids, definitely look at this! I highly recommend it. It is funny, entertaining, exciting, interesting and educational.”
– Comment from an Apple Podcasts review