Barack and Michelle Obama’s media company Higher Ground Productions has signed an ad sales and content distribution deal with Acast, the company has announced.
As part of the partnership, many of Higher Ground’s podcasts including its most-recent release with Audible - Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast - will be distributed to a global audience across all podcast platforms for free. New episodes will initially premiere exclusively on Audible for the first two weeks before being distributed more widely by Acast.
“We’ve been deeply impressed by the creativity and innovation of the Acast team,” said Higher Ground head of audio Dan Fierman. “We are excited to work with their team to bring our growing slate of audio content to existing fans and new audiences.”
Additionally, brands and agencies will also be able to advertise with select Higher Ground podcasts by purchasing ads from Acast either programmatically or directly, and create brand integrations and sponsored content by working with the Acast Creative team.
Higher Ground’s portfolio of podcasts includes conversational podcastsThe Michelle Obama Podcast and Renegades: Born in the USA with president Barack Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen, documentary podcast The Big Hit Show, and The Sum Of Us podcast based on the New York Times best-selling book with the same name.
“Higher Ground continues to deliver among the most engaging and high-calibre audio content in the industry, and we look forward to teaming up with them to make vital storytelling available to communities all over the globe,” said Acast CEO Ross Adams. “This relationship marks an exciting new chapter not only for Acast, but for the audio industry at large, as we work hand-in-hand to make the world a more connected place.”
In June 2022, Higher Ground announced that it had signed a multi-year audio project deal with Audible after making the decision not to renew its previous exclusivity deal with Spotify in order to make its content more accessible across all platforms. Spotify continues, however, to retain certain distribution rights for shows that were produced during the deal with Higher Ground, including The Michelle Obama Podcast and Renegades: Born in the USA.
