iHeartMedia and NRJ Group Partner to Develop French Podcasts

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, August 5, 2021

iHeartMedia and the French multimedia group NRJ announced today a strategic partnership to develop, translate, distribute and monetize a specially curated slate of iHeartRadio Original podcasts for French listeners. The first translated podcasts will be available on the iHeartRadio app, in France on NRJ Group's platforms and everywhere podcasts are heard from the last quarter of 2021, with regular new additions thereafter.

Podcasts to be translated include the iconic "Stuff You Should Know," the first-ever podcast to surpass one billion downloads. Launched in April 2008, the podcast has continuously educated listeners on a variety of topics in science, history, pop culture, urban legends, conspiracy theories and more. With thousands of episodes, a number of sold-out live events, a television season and a book deal, the show and its riveting hosts have garnered a loyal following across the globe.

Additional shows in the curated slate are set to include other popular curiosity podcasts including "Stuff You Missed in History Class," "BrainStuff," "Unobscured with Aaron Mahnke" and "Cabinet of Curiosities," music podcast "Rivals" as well as some of the most riveting true-crime podcasts like "Piketon Massacre," "Missing in Alaska," "Murder in Oregon," and "Paper Ghosts" with more to come.

"NRJ Group is proud to work with the world's leading podcast publisher, sharing the same mission : making high-quality entertainment podcasts available to the widest audience. This deal enables us to significantly enrich our offer to French listeners while clearly positioning NRJ Global as the top reference in France for the monetization of podcasts," said Cécile Chambaudrie, NRJ Global President & CEO of NRJ Group digital activities.

In addition, the partnership will also include a slate of new co-produced podcasts featuring top French talent with more details to be announced in the future.

As part of the deal, NRJ Group will distribute select iHeartRadio Original English-language podcasts across their apps and websites; and will lead the monetization efforts in France with exclusive monetization rights for the French translation versions. and the co-produced slate of new podcasts from existing and emerging French talent. And to drive revenue faster, NRJ Global will leverage Triton Digital's (recently acquired by iHeartMedia) industry-leading supply side platform Yield-Op and its programmatic audio marketplace.

"As podcast audiences continue to explode in the United States, the medium is also going global, beginning to grow meaningful fanbases around the world," said Conal Byrne, CEO of iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. "iHeartMedia is in a unique position to partner with the best audio companies from each territory - like NRJ in France - offering them deep archives of existing hits for translation, co-production of new shows to better support the French podcast creator community, and ad technology from Triton to build sustainable podcast revenue fast as part of the premiere worldwide audio marketplace."