Award-winning podcast production company Somethin’ Else has agreed a deal with Danish podcast platform Podimo to translate two of their podcast series into Spanish, Danish and German for global distribution.
True crime series Unheard: The Fred and Rose West Tapes and The Immaculate Deception are the first British-produced podcasts to be translated into new languages.
Unheard: The Fred and Rose West Tapes reveals never-before-heard tapes from journalist Howard Sounes, who broke major stories in the West’s case in the 1990s.
First released in September 2019, the 12-part series went straight to Number 1 in the Apple Podcast charts in the U.K. and the Top 20 in the US and Australia. With almost 3 million downloads worldwide and a nomination for Best True Crime at The British Podcast Awards 2020, the translation deal with Podimo will bring the story of the Wests to Spanish, Danish and German listeners for the first time in podcast form.
Also being translated for Spanish, Danish and German listeners is The Immaculate Deception, a show produced by Somethin’ Else as part of its global content partnership with Sony Music Entertainment.
First released in March 2020, investigative journalist Jenny Kleeman unpicks the Jan Karbaat case. Karbaat, a fertility doctor in the Netherlands who deceived his patients by using his own sperm to impregnate them, fathered at least 60 children in the 1980s.
With over a million downloads worldwide, the 9-part podcast series had a 45% US listener share and was Number 1 in the UK True Crime Apple Podcast Chart.
Both podcasts will keep their original format and are re-recorded with individual narrators for each language. Interviews with contributors will be dubbed, so that real-life voices can still be heard briefly.
The translated shows will be released in Spain, Latin America, Germany, and Denmark later this year.
Jake Chudnow, UK Managing Director at Podimo said: “We’re proud to partner with the talent at Somethin’ Else to bring a global audience to their shows.
“Our listening data suggests that nearly 95% of podcast consumption across Europe is on local-language content, and we see translation as an exciting opportunity for English-language productions to be heard and loved by more listeners than ever before. We view this partnership with Somethin’ Else as the first of many more to come.”
Steve Ackerman, Chief Content Officer and Vice Chairman at Somethin’ Else said: “Regardless of country, audiences love great stories, and these two shows are both gripping podcast series. We’ve been keen to look at taking our shows into other languages and are excited by this partnership with Podimo.”
