Crowd Network (Crowd), the home of UK athlete-owned podcasts, has signed Darragh Kelly as Director of Strategic and Commercial Partnerships.

Darragh joins Crowd from Platform Media, where he executed the commercial growth strategy of The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, transforming it into one of the UK’s most commercially successful sports podcasts. There, Darragh was pivotal in spearheading and working with significant brands.

Prior to Platform Media, Darragh led brand partnerships at Pitch International, Takumi, and was the global strategy manager as DAZN. He has a wealth of experience in evolving monetization pathways across podcasting, social media, and experimental platforms. Darragh is also passionate about boosting investment in women’s sports and has worked with brands to produce authentic women’s rugby content.

In his new role, Darragh will shape Crowd’s commercial brand partnerships strategy and identify partners that align with its network of shows and talent. He will also develop Crowd’s women’s sports offering, partnering with brands that are committed to investing in its growth.

Alongside Darragh, Crowd has also welcomed Sam Sheringham as an Executive Producer to build on the success of its latest chart-topping sports podcast For The Love of Cricket, hosted by Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad. An SJA Awards winning journalist, Sam was formerly the audio lead in the BBC’s Sport and Documentaries department. Phoebe Street has also joined Crowd as a Producer, previously at England Rugby. Phoebe will be responsible for content production across Crowd’s women’s sports offerings.

Mike Carr, CEO of Crowd, said: “It’s fundamental that brands we partner with are authentically aligned with our shows and hosts. Our athlete-owned podcasts have huge potential for commercial growth and I’m looking forward to seeing how Darragh’s expertise can help us supercharge our partnerships. His track record of commercially growing some of the biggest sports podcasts in the industry will be an incredible asset to our team, building on the names already in our network, and pushing boundaries of creative brand offerings.”

Darragh Kelly, Director of Strategic and Commercial Partnerships at Crowd, added: “The creative and commercial opportunities for athlete-owned podcasts are still vast, especially with new multi-channel partnerships and the roster of sporting talent that Crowd works with.

“Crowd’s existing partnerships stand out for their authenticity. I’m ambitious about how we can take these to the next level and offer creative and advantageous solutions that benefit our shows and our brand partners, especially with the huge potential in social media and live events. Women’s sports especially still lack genuine investment, and I’m passionate about the impact that onboarding new brand partners can have on closing the gender gap that still exists.”

Crowd is one of the fastest-growing independent podcast networks in Europe and works with a host of national brands and sport talent. The team produces shows with former Lionesses Jill Scot and Karen Carney, as well as rugby stars Ben Youngs, Dane Cole, and Joe Mauler, and cycling legend Geraint Thomas.

Crowd Network (Crowd), one of Europe’s fastest-growing independent podcast networks, has introduced three new prisoners to its podcast For The Love of Rugby, who are producing a series for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

Red Roses Sadia Kabeyla (Loughborough Lightning) and Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury) and retired England player Shaunagh Brown (Harlequins Women) are presenting weekly episodes, delving into the tournament and sharing exclusive insights from the Red Roses’ camp.

The strengthened presenter roster is the latest example of Crowd championing women’s sports, creating female-led content and working with brands to secure authentic, meaningful partnerships. Crowd also works with Chelsea FC Women’s football team on the We Are Chelsea Podcast. Using content from the podcast, Chelsea FC Women’s TikTok’s received 50 million views in summer 2024 — more than any other women’s sports team globally.

Sage also continues its partnership with For The Love of Rugby, as its official insights partner, providing live data on the tournament. The new hosts use Sage insights to analyze the games and make predictions on upcoming matches for their audience. It follows Sage’s partnership with For The Love of Rugby for the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, where Sage insights formed the backbone of analysis and facilitated the creation of the “Rugbyverse” — a virtual podcast recording studio – in host Ben Youngs’ house.

For the Love of Rugby launched in January 2024 and has since grown its fanbase to become one of Crowd’s most popular podcasts, landing in the Top 10 for sports podcasts on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It recently featured Bristol Bears player and social media phenomenon Ilora Maher in a special episode, and it won the Gold Award for “Best Rugby Podcast” at the fan-voted 2025 Sports Podcast Awards.

Full-time hosts Ben Youngs and Dan Cole achieved chart-topping record downloads and more than 54 million social media views with their coverage of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, and they will undertake a national podcast tour in April and May.

Louise Gwilliam, Talent Manager at Crowd Network, said: “2025 is set to be the biggest year in the history of rugby, never mind women’s rugby, and we’re so excited to bolster our world-class talent by welcoming Shaunagh, Sadia, and Maud to the Crowd community. They’re providing our listeners with next-level insights, both from their experience playing at the highest level and with data from our partner Sage. 

As we build towards the Women’s World Cup on English soil later this year, which is already breaking ticket sale records, we want more brands to join us in supporting women’s sports by investing in female-led content and partnering authentically with female athletes.”

Crowd Network (Crowd), one of Europe’s fastest growing independent podcast networks, has launched a second season of Oceans: Life Under Water in collaboration with Greenpeace UK.

Series two comes hot on the heels of an incredibly successful first series, which won a Bronze Climate award at the 2024 British Podcast Awards and was nominated in the Listener’s Choice category. It will comprise 12 episodes, each covering amazing stories of the wonders of the ocean — from beautiful coral reefs and stunning species like dolphins and turtle, to threats like deep sea mining.

Producing series took two took the Crowd team across the world, recording episode in the Arctic Circle on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, where the Greenpeace team conducted a scientific expedition to campaign again deep-sea mining plans in the Arctic. Among a series of actions, the podcast’s logo was projected onto an iceberg. Wildlife filmmaker, zoologist, and broadcast Hannah Sitfall makes a return as host.

Oceans: Life Under Water aims to make listeners fall in love with the oceans, while educating them on the threats they face, to promote the need to protect underwater environments. It is part Greenpeace’s “Oceans Are Life” campaign, which seek to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 and ban any mining projects in the deep sea.

The second series’ launch forms part of Crowd’s ongoing relationship with Greenpeace. As week as Oceans: Life Under Water, the organizations partnered to relaunch SystemShift earlier this year, a podcast with Greenpeace International that has run for two series.

It comes as Crowd continues to work with notable brands and names such as Joe Marler, Dan Cole, and Ben Youngs to tell stories through creative audio, video, and social channels.

Mike Carr, CEO of Crowd Network, commented: “We’re always looking for new ways to push creative boundaries and engage audiences, and the second series of Oceans enabled us to do just that. Creating much of this series from the heart of the Arctic Circle was an incredible experience, helping us to bring Greenpeace UK’s mission to life uniquely and intimately. The Crowd team continue to take our production capabilities to new heights as we draw in audiences and tell stories in novel ways, Oceans is a perfect example of that.”

James Hanson, Head of Communications and Engagement for Greenpeace UK’s Oceans Are Life campaign, added “2025 is a crucial year for the oceans, with several international events potentially leading to key decisions. We have seen firsthand how the podcast has been able to reach audiences that might have previously been more skeptical about climate issues, encouraging them to engage with the challenge positively. 

The huge success of series one of Oceans is testament to the creative partnership we forged with Crowd, so working together on a second series made perfect sense. We can’t wait to see how series two will land as we continue to delve into the wonders of our oceans.”

Crowd Network (Crowd), one of Europe’s fastest growing independent podcast networks, has expanded its capabilities and welcomed two new video producers to its team following the increased demand for video and social content from its audiences and brand partners.

It follows the company’s successfully launching the YouTube channels for two of its most popular sports podcasts this year, FC Bullard and For The Love of Rugby. YouTube channels are one key strand of Crowd’s wider content marketing offer, as it goes beyond podcast production into video, social media strategy, merchandise support, and live show launches.

Crowd’s expanded offer to brands comes as demand for video and social media content grows, amongst both podcast followers and brands alike. Video content has already proven successful for Crowd, generating hundreds of thousands of views of longform YouTube episodes and tens of millions across social media.

As well as launching YouTube channels for For The Love Of Rugby and FC Bullard, Crowd has also made strides in brining in multichannel women’s sports content to audiences. Crowd launched the Chelsea women’s team’s We are Chelsea podcast in March this year, leading the way for women’s sports brands. We Are Chelsea received over a million views across Chelsea’s digital channels just two weeks after launch, with TikTok videos hitting 50 million views over summer.

Crowd now works alongside multiple household names to amplify their exposure across channels such as podcasting, social media and more. This includes Greenpeace’s Oceans: Life Under Water which won the bronze award in the Climate category at the British Podcast Awards in 2024. It’s partnerships with big brands are set to grow in 2025 as it eyes new collaborations.

Mike Carr, CEO at Crowd Network commented: “We’ve seen the market undergo massive change in the last year alone. Audio and even video is no longer the avenue in podcasting but we’re now seeing a need to provide a 360 approach to working with brands to achieve successful multichannel engagement with audiences.

“This year has been a pivotal one for us. Welcoming big names such as Greanpeace and Chelsea to Crowd Branded, has enabled us to work with some incredible teams, who are keen to tell stories and reach new audiences in a fresh, dynamic way. I’m excited to see how our team continues to expand our branded offering to achieve impactful engagement with fans and audiences.” About Quill:

Quill is an industry-leading branded podcast production agency working with some of North America’s largest brands such as Walmart, Yelp, Interac and more, reaching global audiences. Through producing results-oriented, collaborative and experimental content, the company is providing podcast services that fit the needs of every brand. Quill’s overarching mission is to increase brand reach, build new relationships and provide impactful results through compelling stories. Quill is the parent company of CoHost, a podcast analytics and audience insights platform built for brands and agencies.

Crowd Network (Crowd), the UK’s fastest-growing audio-on-demand network, has welcomed Katherine Hutcheson as commercial director. The appointment comes as Crowd looks to develop its commercialization strategy, targeting significant revenue growth across new and existing shows.

Launched in September 2022, Crowd its home to original shows across Crowd People and Crowd Stories divisions, with a new sports division in the pipeline. Working with major names in British entertainment, its chart-topping podcasts include The Sam and Billie Show, The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club and The Secret History Of: Flight 149.

With over 20 years’ experience in audio, Katherine has held commercial content director positions for Bauer’s National Brands, Katherine was also responsible for the commercial development and strategy for JACK Radio Group. More recently, Hutcheson was at Acast responsible for driving revenue and nurturing relationships with senior media agency stakeholders.

As Crowd’s roster of award-winning shows continues to grow, Katherine will work closely with senior leadership to target growth in new and exciting revenue streams. In April, Crowd’s first ever live show, The Joe Marler Show at The Clapham Grand, London, sold-out in just 10 hours. Hutcheson will be maximizing Crowd’s revenue streams across additional live tours, as well as sponsorship, advertising, merchandise, subscriptions, and other commercialization options.

With experience in building partnerships with leading media agencies, Katherine will also manage Crowd’s existing roster of commercial partners and target new strategic brand partnerships.

Crowd has undergone significant team growth since its launch. Starting as a team of four, the company is now 18-strong and Hutcheson’s appointment marks the latest in a string of senior hires. Former BBC creative lead Rob Roberts-Facey joined as Head of Sport in July, to lead the development of the new Crowd Sports content division.

Mike Carr, CEO of Crowd Network, said: “The podcast industry is growing and evolving quickly, and tapping into valuable revenue streams is crucial to remaining competitive. With Katherine on board, we are in a strong position to take advantage of new commercial opportunities, developing a strategy that aligns well with our brilliant slate of shows. It’s fantastic to have her as part of the team, and with her considerable experience in revenue delivery in the audio space, we are confident Katherine will help Crowd reach its next level of growth in the coming months,”

Katherine Hutcheson, commercial director at Crowd Network, said: “I’m thrilled to join Crowd Network. There is still so much untapped opportunity for growth in podcasting and audio, especially in companies like Crowd, where there is a real focus on quality shows that listeners truly connect with. There is already a strong commercial foundation within the business, with a number of its shows enjoying live shows or impressive demand for merch. I’m excited to be working closely with the team to push this further, and unlock growth for new upcoming shows too. There is so much potential at Crowd, and I can’t wait to explore it.”

Crowd Network (Crowd), a fast-growing Manchester audio-on-demand network, has welcomed Rob Roberts-Facey to its team as a senior producer, joining the BBC. Roberts-Facey will work closely alongside Tom Fordyce, Crowd creative director, to develop at the network, Crowd Sports.

Having previously worked as creative lead for BBC Sport, Robert-Facey also worked across Match of the Day, Sports Personality of the Year and sports documentaries for BBC One. With over 11 years’ experience at the broadcaster, he has been involved in coverage of the biggest sporting moments of the last decade, from World Cups to the Olympics.

Currently home to chart-topping podcasts The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club and The Joe Marler Show, Crowd planes to officially launch the new sports division next year. Roberts-Facey and Fordyce will lead on the expansion of the network’s existing sport shows and development of new podcasts, with more high-profile sports stars set to join in 2022.

Crowd Sports will join the network’s existing content divisions. Crowd Stories, including the likes of critically acclaimed Murder In House Two and American Vigilante, brings trailblazing investigations and documentaries to life. Crowd People, home to podcasts including The Sam and Billie Show and Go Love Yourself, sees listeners get closer to some of the most popular names in entertainment.

Roberts-Facey’s appointment bolsters Crowd’s senior leadership team, which has undergone significant growth since its 2020 launch. Having started as a team of four, the network now counts 18 amongst the business and is set to welcome further new hires later in the summer.

Mike Carr, CEO of Crowd Network, said: “It’s fantastic to have Rob on board, given his experience in leading productions for some of the biggest global sporting events and shows. It stands him in good stead as we look to grow our sports podcast offering, work with more brilliant names and brands in spot, and continue to develop original shows that listeners truly connect with.

“As we expand the shows, talent and brands that we work with, we’re focused on having the right people in the team to support this, who have the drive and energy to push us forward. Rob in particular will be vital to developing our sports specialism, alongside Tom, as we look to officially launch Crowd Sports next year. I’m excited to welcome him into the team.”

Rob Roberts-Facey, Senior Producer at Crowd Network, said: “Having watched Crowd go from strength to strength over the last two years, I am thrilled to be part of the team. Its productions are quality, and the focus on connecting listeners with the shows, hosts, and people behind the podcasts is something I’ve always admired. To be able to play a part in this and work closely alongside Tom and the team again, is brilliant. We have so much scope to grow – from the names we work with, to the podcasts we bring to listeners – and I am incredibly excited to help take Crowd Sports to the next level.”

Crowd Network, a rapidly growing Manchester-based audio on demand network, is celebrating 10 million podcast downloads in just over 18 months of launch.

Having launched a slate of new shows in recent months, including Go Love Yourself co-hosted by Laura Adlington and Lauren Smith, and The Sam & Billie Show from Sam and Billie Faiers, the independent network has seen downloads reach one million a month in the last five months.

Since its launch in September 2020, Crowd has created a suite of chart-topping shows to critical acclaim. Recent popular shows include Flight 149, a documentary series delving into the 1990 human hostage crisis and cover-up by the British Government, released in February this year. The company is in talks for a French series, speaking with French nationals involved in the scandal, to be released later this year.

As its library of shows grows, the network has welcomed six new faces in the last twelve months, with plans to grow the team by five over the next six months as show production ramps up.

Working with major names including Joe Marler, The Joe Marler Show, Geraint Thomas, The Geraint Thomas Cycling Club, and Alan Cumming, Alan Cumming’s Shelves as part of its Crowd People division, the network’s Crowd Stories arm features award winning shows, such as Murder in House Two, and the chart-topping American Vigilante. Six new podcasts are in the pipeline for 2022 across its Crowd People and Crowd Stories divisions.

The success of these shows saw the network partner with LA-based Creative Artists Agency in 2021 to explore film and television options for existing shows.

Co-founded by a team formerly based at the BBC, Crowd is led by CEO Mike Carr. Carr commented on the milestone: “When the team and I first talked about launching our own network, we wanted to create a company that ultimately gave our people complete creative control over their content. We didn’t want to just produce audio with other media companies, and we didn’t want to create podcasts that we thought people wouldn’t truly connect with.

“To have 10 million downloads, multiple awards, and some of the biggest names in entertainment, like Joe Male an Geraint Thomas, behind us less than two years in, is true testament to the Crowd team’s hard work over the last 18 months. I’m thrilled to be on this journey with some of the best in the industry, working one some of the most popular podcasts out there. As an independent network, we’re aware that there are other, perhaps easier, routes to growth. Yet these options wouldn’t be in line with our core offering of creating and owning our own quality IP, a strategy that is clearly resonating with listeners, talent and the market. We’re growing quickly, organically, in a way that stays true to our original focus: quality shows that bring people together.”