Media company Global has signed a new ad sales deal with subscription-based sports journalism website The Athletic to monetise its podcast portfolio in the UK and Ireland.
With this partnership, brands will be able to go through Global to buy custom reads and sponsorships on The Athletic’s line of podcasts which includes hits like
The Athletic Football Podcast, hosted by television presenter Ayo Akinwolere, and The Totally Football Show, hosted by presenter and journalist James Richardson.
“I’m delighted that The Athletic has chosen Global to represent its thriving sports podcast slate,” said Global chief commercial officer Mike Gordon. “I’m looking forward to working with all our advertising partners to score huge reach amongst an audience of passionate and dedicated sports fans.”
The Athletic launched its podcast division in 2019 as sports podcasts started to rise in popularity and has since launched numerous sports podcasts including The Athletic NBA show, Puck Soup for the NHL, Game Theory Podcast for the NBA, and many more. The sports publisher also has a subscription offering for podcasts which provides subscribers with access to ad-free podcast listening.
In October this year, The Athletic - which was acquired by The New York Times in 2022 - announced that it would be focusing on more national audio content for teams like the NBA and cutting back on local podcasts for teams like the Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks - according to a report by NiemanLab. The announcement followed a round of layoffs for The Athletic which affected 4% of newsroom staff in June.
“We’re always looking to meet our listeners where they are,” a New York Times spokesperson told NiemanLab in an email “and we will continue to evolve our strategy based on their listening habits.”
A number of sports podcasts have launched to coincide with popular sports seasons like the Premier League including Goalhanger’s The Rest is Football, co-hosted by the company’s co-founder and sports broadcaster Gary Lineker and former professional football players and pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, as well as Mail Sport’s It’s All Kicking Off, co-hosted by Premier League winner and former professional football player Christ Sutton and Daily Mail football editor Ian Ladyman.
