with Steve Pratt, Author of the hit book Earn It
with Steve Pratt, Author of the hit book Earn It
CASE STUDY
Company size
Website
D-Wave is a global quantum computing company developing technology that helps organizations tackle complex computational problems.
Its work has implications for manufacturing, logistics, financial services, artificial intelligence and other industries. But communicating the value of quantum computing to business audiences presents a challenge.
The technology is complex. The language is technical. And much of the public conversation swings between two extremes: academic explanations that are difficult for non-specialists to follow, and breathless predictions about a quantum-powered future.
Neither is particularly helpful to a business leader trying to make a decision today.
D-Wave needed a way to reach technology executives, innovation leaders and other decision-makers who were curious about quantum computing but wanted something more useful than another explanation of qubits.
They wanted to understand where quantum computing was being applied, what problems it could solve and what those applications might mean for their organizations.
D-Wave had access to researchers, engineers, customers and industry leaders with firsthand experience applying quantum technology.
Those perspectives could make for a useful podcast. But a series of technical interviews alone wouldn’t necessarily attract the people D-Wave wanted to reach.
The editorial challenge was to translate complex expertise into conversations built around the audience’s questions.
What can quantum computing solve today? Where is it being used? How do businesses decide whether it’s worth exploring? And what separates a promising application from the hype?
The business objective was to establish D-Wave as a credible, useful voice in the practical application of quantum computing.
To do that, the company needed more than another channel for distributing technical information.
It needed a show that people would choose to listen to.
JAR partnered with D-Wave to develop Quantum Matters, an audio and video podcast exploring how quantum computing is being applied to real business and technical challenges.
Rather than building a show around the technology itself, we focused on the people, decisions and problems behind its applications.
The guiding editorial question was straightforward:
Why should someone outside a quantum computing laboratory care about this?
That question influenced the guests, episode topics, interviews and how each episode was packaged for discovery.
We used the JAR System to establish the role of the podcast before production began.
The Job
Help D-Wave build credibility and thought leadership by making the practical applications of quantum computing understandable and relevant.
The Audience
Technology executives, innovation leaders, developers, researchers and business decision-makers exploring the potential of quantum computing.
The Result
Attract and engage an audience interested in quantum computing’s real-world applications, while building D-Wave’s visibility in the category.
This gave the editorial team a way to evaluate potential stories.
A technically interesting topic wasn’t automatically a good episode. It also needed a compelling reason for the audience to listen.
Quantum Matters brings researchers, technology leaders and practitioners into conversations about the problems they’re working to solve.
For example, an episode with former Volkswagen Group CIO Martin Hofmann explores how quantum and hybrid computing approaches can support traffic optimization and transportation systems.
Other episodes examine warehouse operations, manufacturing, robotics, supercomputing and the challenges of scaling quantum technologies.
These conversations give listeners a practical starting point.
Instead of trying to understand quantum computing in the abstract, they can explore a recognizable business or technical problem and the role quantum technology might play in addressing it.
The show doesn’t avoid complexity. It gives that complexity context.
JAR supported D-Wave across podcast strategy, editorial development, guest preparation, production, distribution and audience growth.
Our work included:
JAR also supported the development of an in-house recording environment, helping D-Wave build production capability for the series.
Making a technically excellent podcast isn’t enough if the audience can’t find it.
We approached each episode as a piece of content that needed a clear reason to be heard.
That meant focusing titles, descriptions and promotion on the underlying business questions, rather than relying only on technical terminology or the reputation of the guest.
The podcast could then reach people already interested in the subject, as well as those exploring whether quantum computing might matter to their organizations.
The result was a recurring editorial property that D-Wave could use across audio, video and its own communications channels.
And because the topics were rooted in practical applications, episodes had value beyond the week they were published.
The first half of Season One of Quantum Matters attracted more than 23,000 unique listeners.
That’s a significant audience for a podcast devoted to a specialized and technically demanding subject.
The series also averaged more than 2,000 downloads per episode within the first seven days of release and reached #21 on Apple’s U.S. Technology podcast chart.
These results were achieved without paid podcast advertising.
For D-Wave, the podcast demonstrated that a complex technology could attract an audience when the conversations were built around practical problems rather than technical explanations alone.
The first half of Season One reached more than 23,000 unique listeners.
The number matters because Quantum Matters wasn’t designed for a mass-market entertainment audience.
It was created for people interested in where quantum computing could make a practical difference, including technology professionals, researchers, developers and business leaders.
The listening results demonstrated demand for conversations about quantum technology that connect complex ideas to real-world applications.
Episodes averaged more than 2,000 downloads in their first seven days.
For a new podcast, first-week performance is a useful measure of how effectively an episode reaches listeners shortly after publication.
It also provides a consistent benchmark for evaluating audience development over time.
According to the performance benchmark used in the original case study, this placed Quantum Matters among the top 5% of podcasts by early episode downloads.
The benchmark is based on download performance, not a ranking of all Technology podcasts on Apple or Spotify.
Quantum Matters reached #21 in the U.S. Technology category on Apple Podcasts.
The chart position gave the series visibility beyond D-Wave’s existing communications channels.
It also demonstrated that a podcast about a specialized enterprise technology could compete for attention within a broad technology category.
Chart rankings are indicators of performance and momentum, rather than direct measures of total audience size or business impact.
The reported audience growth was achieved without paid podcast advertising.
Instead, the series relied on its editorial approach, episode discoverability, distribution and promotion to attract listeners.
For a B2B organization, this is an important distinction.
Paid media can be a useful way to accelerate podcast discovery, but it shouldn’t be the only reason people listen.
A useful show gives audiences a reason to return. It creates content that can continue to be discovered and shared after an episode launches.
Quantum Matters demonstrated that a specialized subject could generate meaningful listening demand without a paid podcast advertising campaign.
Beyond the initial audience numbers, D-Wave created a recurring platform for exploring quantum computing’s practical applications.
The podcast gave researchers, customers, executives and industry leaders a place to examine real problems and explain their work in greater depth.
It also provided D-Wave with long-form content that could be distributed through podcast platforms, YouTube and its own communications channels.
Rather than treating each interview as a standalone marketing asset, the series brought these conversations together under a consistent editorial identity.
That gave D-Wave a way to continue participating in the quantum computing conversation between product announcements, research releases and industry events.
Complexity isn’t necessarily the problem with B2B content.
Relevance is.
An audience may not want to hear an explanation of quantum annealing. But they may be interested in how a manufacturer is using quantum computing to tackle difficult scheduling or optimization problems.
That’s the difference between starting with what a company wants to say and starting with what an audience wants to understand.
Quantum Matters shows how a technically demanding subject can become an engaging editorial platform when the stories are organized around practical applications.
The audience and download results demonstrate reach and demand. They don’t, on their own, prove changes in brand perception, sales pipeline or revenue.
Those outcomes require additional measurement.
But the podcast established something valuable: people were choosing to spend time with D-Wave’s expertise.
Considering a podcast for a complex B2B or technology brand?
Explore the JAR System to see how we connect podcast strategy, audience development and measurement to business objectives.
Yes. A technical subject can be compelling when the content focuses on problems the audience wants to understand. D-Wave’s Quantum Matters uses conversations with researchers, industry leaders and practitioners to explore practical applications of quantum computing. The first half of Season One attracted more than 23,000 unique listeners, demonstrating demand for specialized technology content.
Start with the audience’s questions rather than the technology’s features. Quantum Matters explores recognizable challenges in areas such as transportation, manufacturing and logistics, then explains how quantum computing can contribute to solving them. This gives listeners a reason to care about the technical details.
In the first half of Season One, Quantum Matters attracted more than 23,000 unique listeners and averaged over 2,000 downloads per episode in the first seven days. It also reached #21 on Apple’s U.S. Technology podcast chart. These results demonstrate audience reach and early listening demand, although they don’t independently establish commercial ROI.
Yes. Quantum Matters achieved its reported results without paid podcast advertising. Its audience development approach included useful editorial content, discoverable episode packaging, distribution and promotion. Paid advertising can accelerate growth, but a strong editorial strategy gives listeners a reason to discover and return to a show.
Start by defining the business job of the podcast. For a thought leadership series, useful measures include target-audience reach, unique listeners, first-week downloads, consumption, returning listeners and brand lift. Companies can also investigate website engagement, qualified account activity and sales influence where reliable attribution is available. Quantum Matters demonstrates strong audience performance, but verified pipeline and revenue attribution would be needed to quantify its commercial return.
A podcast gives a company room to explore complex subjects through sustained conversations rather than short announcements or product messages. It can also create reusable content for YouTube, social media, newsletters and sales communications. The strongest approach is usually to make the podcast part of a broader content strategy, not treat it as a replacement for every other marketing channel.
The first half of Season One attracted more than 23,000 unique listeners, demonstrating demand for practical conversations about quantum computing.
Episodes averaged more than 2,000 downloads during their first seven days, demonstrating strong early listening demand for a specialized technology podcast.
Quantum Matters reached #21 in the U.S. Apple Podcasts Technology category, giving D-Wave visibility within a competitive technology podcast market.
The podcast achieved its reported audience growth without paid podcast advertising, using editorial relevance, discoverability, distribution and promotion to reach listeners.
There’s no way to overstate how little we knew about podcasting at the start of this … you guys really helped getting us launched successfully in a really big way.
Vice President, Quantum Technology Evangelism
D-Wave
