PodX

Listen Is Acquired By PodX In Landmark UK Deal

~ jen

Audio producer Listen, the leading independent podcast and radio company in the UK, has announced its acquisition by global podcast group PodX.

With Listen’s market-leading position and reputation in the UK, this deal is a milestone acquisition for PodX. For Listen, it will super-charge the company’s next phase of growth and give the company global reach. Stockholm-based PodX’s fast-moving strategy has already seen them invest in a range of world-class podcast studios across the globe including: Nouvelles Écoutes and Studio Minuit (France); Goldhawn Productions (UK); Post (Argentina); Flit (Sweden, Norway, Denmark);and Suomen Podcastmedia (Finland). PodX’s investment sees the Group purchasing a majority share in Listen. The deal represents the most significant acquisition in the UK industry since Sony’s purchase of Somethin’ Else in June 2021.

Josh Adler, Managing Director, Listen says: “When we launched in September 2019, we set out to be the UK’s leader in radio and podcast production – and we’ve achieved this. Not only have we consistently grown turnover year on year, we’ve specifically grown our podcast business by more than 250% and been at the forefront of the industry’s move into video and social.

“The beating heart of Listen is our obsession with producing premium content and a desire to move at pace and stay ahead change. We know there is a huge opportunity for us internationally and this is precisely what PodX can support us with.”

Listen works with the world’s biggest talent, brands, and platforms, including BBC, Audible, Spotify, Amazon Music, Sky, ITV, BMV, Vodafone, Global, Viacom, Sky Sports, and many more. The company has produced over 3,500 hours of content in the past 12 months, enjoyed by millions of listeners all over the world. Listen is the APA’s 2021 Production Company of the Year and ALF’s Best Start Up Agency of 2022.

Staffan Rosell, CEO and Member of the Board, PodX Group says: “We are building a Group of world class companies, and we are thrilled to be acquiring the most significant production company in the UK. Listen is a truly impressive business – highly respected, with a market-leading position, inspirational leadership with ambitious plans for the future. Listen has great potential and we are thrilled that it is joining the PodX Group.

“We are really excited by the opportunity to support Listen with the creative development firepower available across the Group. We want to not only help Listen superserve its current commissioners and attract new clients across the genres, but are also keen to invest in Listen’s own IP to create even more valuable IP together, both on a domestic and global level. This is a landmark acquisition for use in the UK in building a strong presence in the British podcast market. PodX continues to look for more world class podcast businesses, producers and IP, and are primarily focused on Europe and Latin America to find them.”

Darby Dorras, Director of Content, Listen, adds: “This is an incredibly exciting moment for Listen and its clients. Our content and plans remain as ambitious and premium as ever – but we’re now supercharged and even more global than before.”

Listen, which joins the PodX Group with immediate effect, will continue to be run by the same management team: Josh Adley, Managing Director; Darby Dorras, Director of Content; and Tim Hammond, Executive Director. The company will operate in the same way, from their current offices, but benefit from the creative and commercial opportunities presented by being part of an enlarged, global organization.

Stockholm-based PodX Group invest in podcast producers who create the best content to jointly develop those companies both domestically and globally, bringing them into their global network of renowned podcast companies to enable collaboration and synergies. The Group is committed in investing in business with international podcast IP rights: offering financing, as well as support around business development, internationalization and commercialisation, to emerging podcast producers and creators.

PodX was founding in 2021 by Patrick Svensk (founder of Kanal 5, Zodiak Media, and Nice Entertainment); Staffan Roses (previously Nordic Head of Viacom, SBS Radio, Discovery Radio, and most recently CEO of Bower Media); and Fredrik Said (global expansion at Universal and Acast). The Group’s main shareholder and financier is the Swedish investment group Qarlbo AB.

 

PodX Group Acquires A Majority Stake In Posta

~ jen

PodX Group, a company committed to investing in international podcast companies and IP rights, proudly announces its first investment in Latin America through the acquisition of a majority stake in Posta, Argentina’s leading podcast production company.

The step further consolidates PodX Group as one of the biggest players in the global podcasting market. PodX has previously announced investments in French podcast studio Nouvelles Écoutes and British audio fiction company Goldhawk Productions. As the first podcast production company to be founded in Argentina, Posta is a pioneer in the Latin American podcast scene. Since its establishment in 2014, they have produced more than 150 shows, reaching millions of listeners, not just in its native country but also in Mexico, Brazil, United States and Spain.

Through their award-winning branded content unit, Posta Studios, they service more than 60 world-class companies, including Netflix, Uber, Microsoft, HBO, PlayStation, Mercado Libre and Globant, among many others.

Posta’s mission is to create the best audio content for Spanish-speaking markets. Following PodX’s investment, their plan is to combine strengths in order to:

  • Continue developing original fiction and non-fiction narrative podcasts and explore opportunities in adapting them to other media.
  • Further consolidate its successful branded podcasts revenue stream.
  • Expand their reach, audience and influence in the Latin American and U.S. Hispanics markets.

Posta co-founders, Luciano Banchero and Diego Dell’ Agostino, will continue leading the company in this new chapter, as Chief Creative Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively. They are joined by former Chief Operating Officer, Juan Manuel Giraldez, who moves into the position of Chief Executive Officer.

Luciano Banchero, co-founder and COO, Posta: “We couldn’t possibly be more excited for this new adventure. The PodX team has proven to be the best partner to take this gigantic leap into the future of Posta. I’m thankful for the continued trust and investment, and believe they will level up our current capabilities, expand our values of diversity, innovation and excellence in audio, to help us achieve our dream of reaching even more millions of listeners.”

Diego Dell’ Agostino, co-founder and CMO, Posta: “We are very excited and happy to have found in PodX a strategic partner that will empower us and from whom will surely learn a lot in the future, At Posta, we hope this will bring new possibilities for the podcasting ecosystem in the region. We look forward to working with the other professionals that make up the group in pursuit of these objectives.”

Patrick Svensk, co-founder and Executive Director, PodX Group: “Posta has really great and unique creativity and quality in the audio entertainment they create and deliver in the Spanish-speaking part of the world. It will e so exciting to support them in creating an even bigger footprint for their content, not only in Argentina and LatAm, but also in the rest of the podcasting space. Posta is so very welcome into the PodX family and I already love working with them.”

PodX Group Acquires Majority Share In Goldhawk Productions

~ jen

In September, PodX announced of a majority share in French podcast production company Nouvelles Écoutes. PodX Group are now becoming the majority shareholders in Goldhawk Productions, a unique production company specializing in audio drama and fiction with a list of catalog of premium IP rights. The company is behind global success formats such as Passenger List, Mumbai Crime, Life After, The Cipher, Tumanbay and Restart. Goldhawk is PodX Group’s first investment in the UK.

Established by multi-award-winning husband-and-wife team John Scott Dryden and Ayesha Menon, Goldhawk Productions has become one of the most distinctive and successful audio fiction production companies in the world. Goldhawk’s overriding mission is great storytelling in sound. The company has made shows all over the world, and extensively in the US and India.

Several of its shows have spin-off novels and been optioned to TV. Goldhawk’s work has won recognition at major festivals around the world including the Webby Awards, New York Festivals, Prix Europa, Writers Guild of Great Britain Awards, Peabody Awards, BBC Audio Drama Awards and the Sony Awards.

Current available fiction podcasts produced by Goldhawk include Passenger List, Mumbai Crime, The Cipher, Life After, Tumanbay, TakeOver, and the recently released thriller Restart, set in the world of video gaming. A new original thriller Young Blood, starring Geoffrey Arend, has just been released by Audible.

John is a writer, director and executive producer. With an impressive track record creating shows for BBC radio, he was hired by Panoply (now Megaphone) in New York as Head of Scripted Content. Before that he had also been Head of Drama for RNZ, New Zealand. John is a recipient of a Peabody Award and has made shows for Audible, PRX/Radiotopia, Wondery, iHeart and the BBC.

He created the fiction podcast Passenger List, a mystery thriller starring Kelly Marie Tran about a plane that disappears mid-flight between London and New York, and the historical fantasy series Tumanbay which ran for four seasons and led to two spin-off novels. His work for the BBC includes the thrillers Severed Threads, A Kidnapping, Pandemic and The Reluctant Spy. He also co-created and executive produces for BBC Sounds the hit YA fiction podcast The Cipher and recently released Restart.

Ayeesha is a writer, creator and producer. Her modern-day adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities won Best Adaptation and her Midnight’s Children won the Outstanding Achievement award at the BBC Audio Drama Awards. She presents the podcast Mumbai Crime, a curated series of audio thrillers from India, released by PRX/Radiotopia. Her credits include the original detective series Undercover Mumbai for the BBC, Jungle Book, TakeOver, and her acclaimed audio adaptations of Vikas Swarup’s best-selling novel Q&A (aka Slumdog Millionaire) and Naguib Mahfouz’s The Cairo Trilogy both of which won Sony Radio Awards.

Staffan Rosell, CEO and Member of the Board, PodX Group: “Goldhawk Productions is a world class company pioneering in fiction podcasts. They have achieved massive global success with formats such as Passenger List, Tumanbay and Mumbai Crime. We are incredibly proud and happy to partner up with John and Ayeesha.”

PodX 2019 will be in Nashville

~ jen

PodX 2019 will take place in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 31- June 2, at the Music City Center. Tickets are available now. PodX 2019 is described as “the podcast convention you’ve been waiting for!”

PodX brings together your favorite networks, podcasters, and podcasts, from true crime and politics to pop culture and storytelling, all in one incredible weekend. Explore the world of podcasts, experience panel discussions and live shows, learn from experts, and expand your knowledge of the evolving art of podcasting, all at PodX.

There are approximately 50 featured presenters listed on the PodX 2019 website. At a glance, you can see a photo of each presenter, their name, and the name of their podcast. There could be more presenters added – and some might change – between now and the conference.

Presenters include:

  • Western Sound – Ben Adair
  • PotterCast – Melissa Anelli, Frank Franco III, and John Noe
  • Mission to Zyzz – Jeremy Bent, Alden Ford, Allie Kokesh, Seth Lind, Winston Noel, Shane O’Connell, and Moujan Zolfaghari
  • Oh No Ross And Carrie – Ross Blocher and Carrie Poppy
  • Undisclosed – Rabia Chaudry and Susan Simpson
  • Variety’s Stagecraft – Gordon Cox
  • Always Open – Barbara Dunkleman and Producer Mariel Salcedo
  • Who? Weekly – Bobby Finger and Lindsey Weber
  • Crime Writers On… These are Their Stories – Kevin Flynn and Rebecca Lavoie
  • The Polygon Show – Allegra Frank, Producer Ross Miller, Ashley Oh, Simone de Rochefort, and Chelsea Stark
  • The History Chicks – Beckett Graham and Susan Vollenweider
  • CEO of Pocket Casts – Owen Grover
  • True Crime Obsessed – Patrick Hinds and Gillian Pensavalle
  • Accused – Amber Hunt
  • Says Who? – Maureen Johnson and Dan Sinker
  • Last Name Basis – Patrick Kondas and Franchesca Ramsey
  • Nancy – Tobin Low and Kathy Tu
  • Creator of Lore, Cabinet of Curiosities – Aaron Mahnke
  • Mother May I Sleep With Podcast? – Nicole Mathew and Molly McAleer
  • Bear Brook – Maureen McMurray, Jason Moon and Taylor Quimby
  • My Favorite Murder – Producer Steven Ray Morris
  • The Hamilcast – Gillian Pensavalle
  • The Bright Sessions – Lauren Shippen
  • The JV Club – Janet Varney
  • Netflix’s You Can’t Make This Up – Rae Votta
  • Girl in Space – Sarah Rhea Werner