New podcast company set up by former BBC staff

Crowd Network, a new audio-on-demand network which says it aims to become Europe’s largest podcast network, is being set up by four former BBC Sport and Radio 5 Live staff.

The new company, which has selected Manchester as its European HQ, says it’s raised £500,000 in seed funding from Enigma Holdings and will launch a range of podcast titles in the coming weeks. It also counts comedian John Bishop among its initial investors – and a podcast hosted by him will be among the first to be released.

Former 5 Live Sport editor Mike Carr, who left the BBC earlier this year, heads up Crowd as CEO and is joined by former radio producer Steve Jones as Content Director.

Tom Fordyce, until recently the BBC’s chief sports writer and one third of the team on That Peter Crouch Podcast, is Creative Director, with former 5 Live rugby union producer Louise Gwilliam completing the team as Crowd’s Talent Director.

Mike Carr, CEO at Crowd Network said: “The best podcasts create communities and become a place where listeners feel they belong. That is what we will strive to do with every single podcast on our slate.

“Our vision is to be Europe’s largest audio-on-demand network. The UK podcast market is playing catch-up with the US, but we have a plan to blaze a trail and close that gap. Podcasts are on the cusp of moving from a niche to a mass-market channel and we aim to be at the vanguard as that transition takes place.

Speaking to the RadioToday weekly podcast, Mike revealed that one of the new podcasts is Three Little Words, presented by John Bishop. He says it will be a sort of Desert Island Discs with words, where celebrities talk about words that mean something to them and stories that go with them. So far, Robbie Williams, Jools Holland and Mel C have been lined-up for the series.

Seven new podcasts will be released across September and October covering a range of genres. These include a couple with sports personalities, a couple of non-fiction titles, and the company has also linked up with an American film director to make a true crime documentary.

Crowd Network has partnered with Acast, the world’s biggest podcast company, for hosting, distribution and promotion.