Sport Social and Podfront UK have entered a new partnership to strengthen Podfront’s sports offering and expand Sport Social’s global reach.
Sport Social is the UK’s leading sports podcast network and Podfront is home to over 350 chart-topping shows including My Favorite Murder and Freakonomics.
Sport Social’s 130 podcasts will now be offered as part of Podfront’s network to advertisers, which includes major brands such as Sky and HelloFresh. With podcast advertising spend topping £54m in 2021 according to IAB UK, the partnership will tap into the growing sports audio market through authentic sponsorships opportunities.
The partnership will expand Sport Social’s access to US brands. Its listenership has undergone significant growth within the last 12 months, reaching over 1.5m downloads a month, and is now the UK’s largest dedicated sports podcasting network. With a 90% reach among men aged between 18-44, it is focused on offering brands the ability to engage with a wide variety of sport fans at scale through its roster of shows.
The result of an initial joint venture between Stitcher and Wondery, Podfront UK consists of some of the biggest publishers in podcasts, including NPR, NBC and Amazon Music Podcasts.
Podfront UK specialises in integrated ad formats such as sponsorships, host reads and announcer reads providing brands with an opportunity to align with premium podcasts.
Launched in late 2019, Podfront has grown rapidly to offer the third largest advertisement count across all podcast publishers in the UK as of 2021, according to Magellan AI. The partnership with Sport Social will increase Podfront UK’s reach among men by 30%.
Sophie Hind, Managing Director of Voiceworks Sport & Sport Social Podcast Network, says: “We’re increasingly seeing major brands use audio and podcasting as part of their fan engagement strategies. At the same time, there’s huge demand from listeners for sport audio content, especially amongst younger audiences. It’s something Sport Social is able to closely tap into – we’ve built a strong male demographic, with our female audience growing.
“We’re focussed on working closely with our sport podcasters to further grow these audiences. At the same time, we are keen to better integrate commercial activity with this content.
“It’s something we’ll be supporting Podfront’s roster of brands to do through our partnership. From fan-created shows to pods hosted by Joe Marler, Mark Butcher, Nick Hancock and Simon Hughes, we are now the biggest sports podcast network in the UK, and our ambitions are global. With Podfront’s support, we’re expanding into the US, so it’s an exciting time to be part of the Sport Social team.”
Ruth Fitzsimons, Managing Director at Podfront UK, added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Sport Social to Podfront’s premium network. This partnership means we can offer national and international brands an opportunity to integrate their messaging within a dedicated and passionate UK sports network, which represents some of the biggest names in sport.
“We know how beneficial authentic sponsorships, host reads, and announcer reads can be in speaking to engaged podcast listeners, and we’ll now be able to work together to tap into Sport Social’s growing listener base.”
