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A Teacher’s Guide to Using Podcasts to Teach Contemporary Culture (Ant & Dec, Goalhanger Case Studies)

UUnknown

2026-02-15

10 min read

Turn Ant & Dec and Goalhanger into hands-on media lessons: production, subscriptions, audience analysis and Danish practice for real classroom outcomes.

Hook: Teach real-world media with the podcasts your students actually listen to

Teachers and media instructors I hear from most often say the same thing: students are surrounded by podcasts and creator brands, but classroom materials feel out of date, inaccessible or disconnected from real creator economics. If you want to teach media literacy, production and audience analysis using contemporary examples students care about, 2026 gives us perfect case studies — from celebrity-first shows like Hanging Out with Ant & Dec to subscription-led networks such as Goalhanger. This guide turns those trends into ready-to-run curriculum units, Danish-language practice activities and assessment-ready projects.

The big idea — why Ant & Dec and Goalhanger matter to classrooms in 2026

Late 2025 and early 2026 made one thing clear: podcasting is no longer just an indie medium. It is a strategic tool for brand extension, audience monetisation and multilingual practice. In January 2026 Ant & Dec launched their first podcast as part of a broader digital entertainment channel — a direct example of celebrity brands expanding into audio-first formats to deepen fan relationships. Meanwhile, Goalhanger surpassed 250,000 paying subscribers, generating roughly ￡15m a year from memberships and showing how subscription models scale across networks of shows (Press Gazette, Jan 2026).

Use these two case studies to teach three classroom pillars: media literacy (who controls narratives), production basics (how podcasts are made today), and audience analysis & business models (how audiences are monetised and measured).

Curriculum at a glance: 6-week unit (adaptable)

Below is a modular 6-week plan for senior high or undergraduate media courses. Each week includes clear learning objectives, a class activity, and a Danish-language practice drill suitable for learners from B1 to C1.

Week 1 — Context & Media Literacy: Celebrity podcasts and public trust

Learning objectives: Students will evaluate motives behind celebrity podcasts and identify persuasive strategies and potential biases.
Class activity: Assign students to listen to an episode of Ant & Dec™s launch trailer or first episode (or a short clip). In groups, map the show™s stated purpose, implied promises to listeners, and which audiences the hosts target.
Danish drill: Create a 3-minute Danish summary of the episode (write first, then record). Focus vocabulary: underholdning (entertainment), målgruppe (target audience), varemærke (brand).

Week 2 — Production Basics: Preproduction and format design

Learning objectives: Plan a podcast episode: outline goals, segments, and tech needs.
Class activity: Using Ant & Dec™s format as inspiration, students co-design a 20-minute episode: host roles, listener Q&A segment, archival clip integration. Produce a one-page preproduction brief.
Danish drill: Translate the brief into learner-friendly Danish; highlight verbs like planlægge, optage, redigere.

Week 3 — Recording, Editing & Accessibility

Learning objectives: Record and edit a 5-minute segment; apply accessibility best practices (captions, transcripts).
Class activity: Hands-on studio or remote recording using free tools (Audacity, Auphonic, or Descript for AI-assisted editing). Produce captions and a time-coded transcript.
Danish drill: Dictation exercise: students listen to a 1-minute Danish read-aloud and transcribe. Pair with shadowing for pronunciation.

Week 4 — Audience Analysis: Metrics, personas & ethics

Learning objectives: Interpret listener metrics and create audience personas, compare ad-based vs subscription strategies.
Class activity: Case-study analysis: Goalhanger™s subscriber model (250k subscribers, ￡~15m/year in 2026). Students build three audience personas and recommend content features that would drive subscriptions (early access, bonus episodes, newsletter, Discord communities).
Danish drill: Ask students to draft an email in Danish pitching a bonus episode to a hypothetical subscriber community. Focus phrases like tidlig adgang and eksklusivt indhold.

Week 5 — Monetisation & Community: Subscriptions, merch & gated content

Learning objectives: Compare membership tiers and design a monetisation plan that balances ethics and sustainability.
Class activity: In teams, students design three membership tiers (free, standard, premium). Include benefits (ad-free, live show access, Discord channels), price points, and churn-reduction tactics inspired by Goalhanger™s model.
Danish drill: Create a membership landing page blurb in Danish optimized for clarity and persuasive language.

Week 6 — Capstone Project & Assessment

Learning objectives: Produce, publish and promote a 12-20 minute episode; prepare an analytics plan for the first 30 days.
Class activity: Students publish the episode to a private feed or class-hosted platform. Deliverables: episode audio, transcript, 1-page promo plan, audience personas, and a reflection on ethical considerations and accessibility.
Danish drill: Live classroom critique segment: students present in Danish a 2-minute pitch for their episode and answer audience questions.

Two case-study deep-dives: Classroom-ready materials

Bring the theory alive with two concrete case studies.

Case study 1: Ant & Dec™s move into podcasts — brand-first content

Ant & Dec™s new podcast (announced Jan 2026) is a textbook example of brand extension. Instead of creating a radically different audio format, the duo chose a casual "hanging out" format to deepen fan relationships across platforms. Use this to teach:

Framing & promises: What does a celebrity bring to a podcast — trust, nostalgia, and built-in audience — and what new expectations does audio set?
Cross-platform strategy: The show is part of a digital channel that includes YouTube, TikTok and archive clips. Map content repurposing strategies for short-form and long-form assets.
Activity idea: Assign students to create a 60-second promotional cut for each platform. Evaluate how tone and editing choices differ for TikTok vs YouTube vs a podcast app.

"We asked our audience if we did a podcast what would they like it be about, and they said 'we just want you guys to hang out'. So that's what we're doing." — Declan Donnelly (announcement paraphrase)

Case study 2: Goalhanger™s subscription scale — audience as revenue

Goalhanger™s network proved that the subscription model can support journalism and entertainment at scale: 250,000 paying subscribers and ￡~15m/year in revenue (Press Gazette, Jan 2026). For students, this is an opportunity to study audience-first monetisation:

Value exchange: What are subscribers paying for? Early access, ad-free listening, exclusive episodes, live shows and community perks like Discord.
Retention tactics: How do producers reduce churn? (quality bonus content, community moderation, member events.) Consider how teams tie membership perks to ongoing revenue using adaptive incentives and bonuses (see playbooks for recurring revenue).
Activity idea: Students design a subscriber-only episode and outline a 3-month retention plan with metrics (monthly active users, churn %, average revenue per user).

Practical production & tech checklist for teachers

Keep classes low-friction with tools and workflows that work in 2026. Generative AI is now routine for editing and show notes, but ethical use and transparency are essential.

Recording: Smartphone mics for mobile projects; USB mics (e.g., Samson Q2U) for better quality.
Remote interviews: Riverside.fm, Zencastr, or SquadCast for high-res separate-track recording.
Editing: studio and home setups for class labs (Descript for AI-assisted editing and overdub with consent), Audacity for free editing, Adobe Audition for advanced classes.
Mixing & mastering: Auphonic for loudness and leveling; optional AI tools for noise reduction.
Hosting: Anchor/Spotify for Podcasters for free hosting; Libsyn or Podbean for class feeds; private RSS feeds for classroom distribution.
Monetisation & community: Monetisation & community: Patreon/Memberful for memberships; Discord for community; Substack or Ghost for newsletters.
Transcription & translation: Otter.ai or AssemblyAI for quick transcripts; use MT post-edit with students for Danish-English bilingual practice. Learn how AI is used across teams and tools to streamline notes and show descriptions.

Assessment, rubrics & competency mapping

Assessment should target both media skills and language learning outcomes. Below is an adaptable rubric (score out of 20).

Preproduction (4 points): Clear objectives, format choice justified, audience personas.
Production quality (4): Audio clarity, editing choices support storytelling, adherence to accessibility (transcript/captions).
Content & craft (4): Segmentation, pacing, host presence, sourced material cited correctly.
Audience strategy (4): Realistic monetisation/community plan, use of metrics and retention tactics. Use class analytics and dashboards to measure impact — consider a simple KPI dashboard for civic projects.
Language & reflection (4): Danish-language drill quality (if used), reflective essay on ethical considerations and choices.

Media literacy: classroom discussion prompts & critical thinking tasks

Use these prompts to push beyond production techniques and toward critical analysis:

Who benefits from the podcast™s narrative choices — listeners, hosts or sponsors?
How does celebrity authority change source credibility? Does a familiar face increase trust or reduce scrutiny?
What responsibilities do producers have when using archival clips that include real people? How would you secure permission?
How do subscription incentives alter editorial choices? Could paywalled content bias coverage toward paying audiences? Consider micro-subscription experiments and pop-up community models as part of the discussion.

Accessibility, ethics & legal notes for teachers

Make these safeguards part of your syllabus:

Copyright: Use short clips under fair dealing for critique and teaching, but secure permissions for public publishing, especially music and broadcast clips.
Consent: Get signed release forms from interview subjects, especially minors.
AI transparency: If you use AI voice cloning or AI edits, disclose this in show notes and obtain consent when necessary. Teach students about ethical AI use and platform policies.
Accessibility: Provide transcripts and consider simplified Danish glossaries for learners.

Integration with Danish language learning — practical drills and live-class ideas

Make podcasts a core resource for language practice. Here are tested activities that double as media-education tools.

5-minute shadowing drills: Pick a 30-60 second Danish clip from news or a student-recorded segment. Students shadow for rhythm and intonation.
Cloze listening: Remove keywords from a transcript; students listen and fill gaps. Focus on functional vocabulary used in media critiques (e.g., kilde, bias, målgruppe).
Live class Q&A: Host a live, teacher-moderated Q&A in Danish where students ask the producers (or classmates) about editorial choices. Great for speaking skills and media questioning.
Translated show notes: Students write bilingual show notes and SEO-friendly descriptions using target keywords: teach with podcasts, media literacy, podcast case studies.

Future-facing trends to include in your syllabus (2026 update)

When you update your curriculum this year, include these developments shaping podcast education:

Subscription-first networks: Expect more creators to bundle content and communities—Goalhanger is a leading example. Think about micro-subscriptions and membership-first experiments when designing assignments (micro-subscriptions).
AI-assisted production: From automatic editing to AI-generated summaries and translations; teach students both tools and ethics. See how teams use AI across marketing and production workflows for ideas.
Audio-visual convergence: Podcasts are released alongside short-form video edits and social-first clips; build cross-format skills with vertical video and repurposing workflows.
Data-informed storytelling: Use real analytics to make editorial decisions; students should learn to read retention graphs and engagement cohorts.

Ready-to-run lesson packet (download checklist)

One-page preproduction template (editable)
5-minute recording script template (bilingual)
Rubric PDF for assessment
Permission & release form template
Sample analytics dashboard (CSV) for student analysis

Actionable takeaways — what to do next

Choose your case study: Ant & Dec for brand-extension lessons; Goalhanger for subscription & audience strategy.
Map one learning objective to a concrete deliverable (e.g., produce a 10-minute episode + Danish transcript).
Pick tools your school can support (two recording tools, one host, one transcript service).
Run a pilot mini-lesson: 2 class sessions to test recording and Danish drills, then scale to the full 6-week unit.

Final reflections — why this matters for learners

Teaching with contemporary podcasts connects production skills to real-world economics and civic literacy. Students learn how content is shaped, who it serves and how trust is built or eroded. Using familiar examples like Ant & Dec lets learners interrogate celebrity influence; Goalhanger™s subscription success teaches sustainable audience strategies students might adopt as creators themselves. Combine that with Danish-language practice and you have a media curriculum that is current, practical and empowering.

Call to action

Ready to pilot this unit? Download the lesson packet, try the 2-session pilot with your class and share results with our teacher community. If you want tailored support, sign up for a live training session where we walk through a full recording day and provide feedback on student episodes. Let™s build classroom resources that reflect 2026™s media landscape — practical, multilingual and student-centred.

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Senior editor and content strategist. Writing about technology, design, and the future of digital media. Follow along for deep dives into the industry's moving parts.