The first episode (“Episode 0”) explores the backstory of Dante Orpilla, a graphic artist who spent time in jail, became involved with Reddit during his prison term, and now works for the company. Upvoted is a sponsored show with two launch advertisers — Squarespace and Tech Hungry.
While the first episode of Upvoted is unquestionably self-referential (and is hosted by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian), some say it is too self-reverential. A review in New Republic opined: “For anyone still stinging from the disappointment of Serial‘s season one finale, this is a healthy reminder: it could always get worse.” [Italics theirs.]
Reddit has a built-in prospective audience for a new audio program, and can certainly create awareness of it quickly. Reception is generally favorable in the Reddit crowd.
Serial is the now-famous pureplay audio program credited with popularizing long-form podcast journalism during its recently ended first season. As a spin-off production of This American Life, a perennial top-5 podcast hit, Serial also had a strong promotional launching pad. Hyperbole surrounding Serial‘s success had built a meme that 2015 is the “year of the podcast,” rightly or wrongly. We expect more podcast experiments in investigative storytelling and person profiling, to catch Serial‘s tailwind.