Rogers Transforms Employee Engagement with Educational Podcasts

Since its founding in 1960, Rogers Communications Inc. has grown to become Canada’s leading communications and entertainment company. The Toronto, Canada-based business connects 11.7 million mobile subscribers; provides more than 60% of Canadian households with reliable internet, television and security; delivers connectivity solutions to 4 million businesses; and is a major source of sports, news and entertainment.

Rogers supports its continually evolving product and service offerings by delivering a constant flow of learning assets to a workforce of 54,000-plus people—including both internal employees and associated members. Using the MadCap Xyleme learning content management system (LCMS) and MadCap Xyleme Syndicate to create and deliver these learning assets, Rogers has reduced content development costs by 53% since its initial implementation. More recently, the company has built on this success by leveraging the products to deliver interactive, educational podcasts that increase both learner comprehension and engagement. Let’s look at how Rogers extended its learning experiences to this popular medium.

Diverse, Evolving Services Drive Industry Growth

In the industries where Rogers participates, growth is closely tied to providers’ ability to diversify their offerings and meet continually evolving demands. The global broadcasting and cable television market reached an estimated $356.45 billion in 2024 and will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.0% from 2025 to 2030, according to Grand View Research. Here, the research firm noted that, “Viewers seek diverse content, including news, sports, and entertainment, available in high-definition formats.” Meanwhile, Grand View Research estimated that the telecom services market was $1,983.08 billion in 2024 and will grow at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2025 to 2030. According to the firm, a key factor driving expansion is “the shift in customer inclination toward next-generation technologies and smartphone devices.” The message is clear. To attract and retain customers, companies delivering broadcasting, cable and telecom services need to continually educate their employees and partners on how to sell and support new products, services, and solution bundles

Supporting Employees’ Diverse Learning Styles

Rogers has implemented a highly effective system for delivering online and print learning content to its employees and associated members. The team creates re-usable, componentized content with Xyleme Create. Then using Xyleme Syndicate, the company can link individual components across any number of publications and deliverables, regardless of format. This has enabled the team to ensure that content is consistent, up-to-date and in sync. Based on this initial success, Rogers wanted to diversify the types of assets and media provided to learners to keep them engaged. In evaluating options, the team recognized that podcasts would provide a great passive medium for microlearning and for supplementing other forms of training. However, the team realized that to be truly effective, they could not simply deliver traditional podcasts with one-way communications. Instead, they would need to take a customized approach to creating and delivering interactive podcasts that could encourage and track learner engagement.

Delivering Interactive Educational Podcasts

Today, Rogers delivers the Podcast+ podcast hub, which is hosted on an existing internal website already familiar to employees and members. A learner simply clicks on the thumbnail or text for a particular podcast, which is available in both English and French versions, and it opens a model containing the podcast. The learner can then play, speed up, and replay the content, as well as follow along with a full transcript that accompanies the podcast. The chapters, themselves, have to be unlocked to ensure learners play through the chapters. Rogers also relies on a Knowledge Check feature to add a layer of engagement. This feature is
used to build periodic pauses into a podcast episode where the listener is asked questions that are designed to reinforce learning and evaluate comprehension in real time. Additionally, the Podcast+ platform includes an embedded social media component that allows podcast authors to engage directly with their audience and facilitate deeper discussions. Learners can leave comments, ask questions, and participate in conversations—fostering a dynamic and interactive learning environment. Behind the scenes, Xyleme Create and Xyleme Syndicate play key roles in creating, delivering and managing the Podcast+ content and tracking learners’ experiences. The team leverages Xyleme Create by manipulating existing templates for output and authoring along with Xyleme Create authoring snippets, behaviors and attributes to produce podcast content. Because Rogers can repurpose content components in Xyleme Create, the team can ensure podcasts
are current and consistent with other training content. Meanwhile, Xyleme Syndicate manages the distribution and publication of the podcasts and any supporting training content. Additionally, Xyleme Syndicate is integrated with the Knowledge Check feature in Rogers’ learning management system (LMS) and allows the team to track and assess learner engagement in real time.

Transforming Learning Experiences and Engagement

Since leveraging the Xyleme platform to deliver Podcast+, Rogers reports that the response within the company has been overwhelmingly positive. Although Podcast+ is still in its early stages, the company is already seeing benefits:

• Learners report that the podcasts provide a great learning experience and are easier to listen to than traditional online courses.
• The conversational nature of the podcasts and integrated social media foster a higher level of learner engagement.
• Learners can gain more comprehension by listening to the podcasts in their preferred language, English or French.
• Knowledge checks and real-time tracking unavailable with traditional podcasts enable Rogers to track learners’ progress.
• Content re-use keeps podcasts current and consistent with Roger’s other training content as it is updated to support new and revised product and service offerings.

The team is now building on its initial success by rolling out additional podcasts. Looking ahead, Rogers also plans to align the key performance indicators (KPIs) for each learning program and evaluate behavioral changes and potential improvements in the return on investment (ROI). Even in advance of these measures, early Podcast+ use cases are already demonstrating Rogers’ transformation of learning into an engaging, interactive, social and fun experience for learners.