
When it comes to U.K. podcast producers, Immediate Media stands out. In 2022, the studio published more than 750 podcast episodes and averaged more than 5 million downloads per month across its 12 ongoing series. One of its most popular podcasts, HistoryExtra, also just celebrated a major milestone by hitting 200 million downloads. And now, we're excited to announce our new partnership with Immediate Media that will help the company take its content to the next level.
Starting in March, Immediate Media's podcasts will be hosted and monetized through Spotify's enterprise podcasting platform, Megaphone. With its portfolio-including the Radio Times Podcast, The olive magazine podcast, and the aforementioned HistoryExtra, along with BBC's Top Gear Magazine Podcast, BBC Good Food Podcast, and BBC Gardeners' World Magazine-Immediate Media offers content from premium brands that advertisers love.
With Megaphone's comprehensive set of industry-leading tools, Immediate Media can more effectively publish and grow its podcast business, by creating podcast ads for use on Spotify and other listening platforms.
NEXT
To celebrate this new partnership, we threw a launch event at our London office where attendees discovered more about the brand opportunities across the Immediate Media Portfolio. They also had the chance to meet HistoryExtra hosts Ellie Cawthorne and Dr. David Musgrove.
For the Record had the chance to sit down with Ben Youatt, Immediate Media's Head of Podcasts, and Dr. David Musgrove, who, in addition to being a host for HistoryExtra, also serves as a Content Director at Immediate Media, to learn more about how podcasting is evolving and what makes this partnership so exciting.
Immediate Media has been in publishing in the U.K. for quite some time. How has podcasting changed the game for media brands? Ben: Podcasting has allowed publishers to create an entirely new means of building relationships with their users and listeners because podcasting is built around intimacy. The nature of spending 40 minutes of your personal time listening to hosts and guests you are interested in has allowed publishers to garnish an incredibly loyal and heavily engaged audience in a way that is unique to the format.
Podcasts have also allowed publishers to make more efficient use of their content. At Immediate Media we make use of well-organized modes of production and 360-degree content strategies to ensure one piece of content no longer sits in one location. A podcast can easily generate video, social, and written content, helping our customers get the most out of their passions, regardless of the platform they use.
Tell us more about the partnership between Immediate Media and Spotify. Ben: Our brands already shine in the podcast space and reach a global audience, so a renewed focus on scaling our audience development across the podcast portfolio is key to our revenue growth. Not only through the continued success of our flagship HistoryExtra podcast, but also through the strategies we have in place for the full portfolio of brands we represent. We are excited to develop our relationship with Spotify and Megaphone to make sure that our household-name brands reach new audiences.
In addition to reaching an impressive 200 million downloads, HistoryExtra recently celebrated its 15th anniversary. What are some of the key factors behind the show's success? David: We've focused on quality conversations from the start, with world-leading guests and experts on the show. We've also brought the most exciting and cutting-edge historians to the ears of our listeners. And crucially, we've committed to releasing episodes at a regular cadence-and increasing that cadence to suit listener demand-which means that our listeners can trust that they're going to get a quality product on a regular basis. That matters when you're choosing which podcast to subscribe to.
But we've also invited the listeners to be part of our community. We've given them opportunities to submit their questions to our experts in our very popular Everything You Want To Know episodes, and delivered our HistoryExtra podcast newsletter so they can find out what is coming up on the show and get access to extra content online.
How does Immediate Media's coming to Spotify help the show continue to grow and thrive? David: I'm hoping it will give us an opportunity to reach out to even more listeners and serve our quality, trusted content to an even wider audience. From a commercial perspective we are equally excited about using data and shared learnings to explore how we increase brand count to work with partners across all categories, from finance to food, motoring to travel, fast-moving consumer goods to entertainment.
The benefit of having such a large, highly engaged audience is that we are relevant to so many advertisers. And so with Spotify's vast audio sales operation and ambitious plans, it makes for a very exciting journey ahead.
What are you most excited about for this next chapter of the HistoryExtra podcast? David: We'll be carrying on with the popular strands that we already do and making sure that we book the very best historians and cover the most exciting research projects in the months ahead.
We also have some great multipart investigative series on the way that explore timely topics like the American civil rights movement, the start of the First World War, and the story of the First Crusade. And we'll introduce a new interview format called Contested Reputations where we'll ask historians to consider how the legacies of key historical figures have changed over time.
Anything you can share about what's coming from Immediate Media in 2023? Ben: We have a number of exciting new formats and shows that we will be releasing
More from Spotify
09/05/2025
As excitement builds for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, Spotify data offers...
07/05/2025
Discovering music should feel effortless and fun. That's why Spotify continu...
06/05/2025
In Colombia, music isn't just background noise-it's center stage. It'...
06/05/2025
En Colombia, la m sica no suena de fondo: es el centro del escenario. Es el cora...
06/05/2025
At Spotify, we always seek ways to connect users with their next favorite podcas...
06/05/2025
Since Spotify's 2019 launch in India, the growth of the country's local ...
05/05/2025
As Europe gears up for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Spotify is celebrating the spirit of unity and musical legacy with a new series of Spotify Singles. Fiv...
02/05/2025
Updated May 9, 2025: Earlier this morning Spotify submitted a new update. If app...
02/05/2025
Since 2022, Spotify and FC Barcelona have brought the worlds of music and footba...
02/05/2025
With more than 678 million users worldwide tuned in to Spotify, we're at the heart of music and culture. Our unrivaled global community of artists, songwrit...
01/05/2025
After four years of lectures, study sessions, exams, and parties, college senior...
30/04/2025
EA SPORTS FC 25 fans in Australia and Saudi Arabia, get ready to immerse yourselves in the beautiful game like never before. Spotify is excited to announce a n...
30/04/2025
The past year has been nothing short of a whirlwind for Tucker Wetmore. After th...
30/04/2025
Mexico's love for podcasts is no longer a trend-it's a lifestyle. With m...
29/04/2025
Idag rapporterar vi f r det f rsta kvartalet 2025, och vi inleder ret starkt med ett resultat som vertr ffar f rv ntningarna inom v ra nyckeltal. Vi levererad...
29/04/2025
Today, we announced our first quarter 2025 earnings, starting the year off strong by outperforming across key metrics, including the highest Q1 Subscriber net a...
29/04/2025
April is Arab Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the vibrant creators from acro...
28/04/2025
Podcasts have become a cornerstone of the Spotify experience, evolving from a ni...
28/04/2025
Each April, runners and walkers of all stripes gather together in Lower Manhattan for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum 5K. This race remembers those killed on Septemb...
24/04/2025
Playlists have always been at the heart of the Spotify experience. Since AI Playlist in beta launched last year, Premium users have used it to create millions o...
24/04/2025
From the California desert and Chicago's Grant Park to New York City's Flushing Meadows Corona Park and beyond, music festivals this spring and summer w...
24/04/2025
The sounds of Asia are as diverse and vibrant as the continent itself. From the lively beats of Indonesian pop to the gritty rhymes of Pinoy hip-hop, the region...
22/04/2025
Music has the power to connect us to one another and to the world around us. Spotify is once again teaming up with the Museum for the United Nations - UN Live...
22/04/2025
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all g...
22/04/2025
This year marks the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22. On Spotify, listeners can explore a world of stories about our planet in our...
15/04/2025
In March this year, Spotify unveiled its annual Loud & Clear report, a transpare...
15/04/2025
As the world's most popular audio-streaming subscription service, Spotify is...
14/04/2025
On Monday, April 14, Blue Origin's NS-31 mission lifted off from Launch Site...
14/04/2025
Whether it's having first access to tickets, being a part of once-in-a-lifet...
11/04/2025
Since entering the audiobooks space in 2022, Spotify has positively impacted the industry, paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to rights holders on an an...
11/04/2025
Latin America's love for scripted audio is about to get a thrilling new chap...
08/04/2025
As part of the first-of-its kind partnership between Spotify and FC Barcelona, w...
03/04/2025
Spotify Advertising hit a new high note today as we unveiled how we're makin...
03/04/2025
The next stage of Spotify Advertising has arrived. Today, during our Spotify Advance event in New York City, we unveiled a host of updates that make it easier f...
03/04/2025
Some of the biggest names in marketing, advertising, publishing, traditional and social media, and the creative worlds gathered yesterday at Chelsea Factory in ...
01/04/2025
USHER's London takeover is in full swing. After kicking off his sold-out run of shows at the O2 Arena to rave reviews, the R&B icon joined forces with Spoti...
27/03/2025
Since announcing the Spotify Partner Program last fall, we've heard from cre...
26/03/2025
nda sedan Spotify grundades har vi arbetat h rt f r att ka betalningsviljan f r...
26/03/2025
Spotify's RADAR program spotlights rising talent from around the world, and in Spain, it's been making waves since 2020. Five years in, RADAR Spain has ...
20/03/2025
Spotify listeners love discovering new artists and songs, but they also love fin...
18/03/2025
Looking for inspiration this Women's History Month? Discover the stories of trailblazing women with audiobooks on Spotify. Our Women's History Month aud...
18/03/2025
From morning commutes to late-night listening sessions, Spotify is the essential daily companion for millions of listeners globally. Podcasts, in particular, ha...
14/03/2025
Time flies when you're having fun and we can confidently say that Bill Simmons, founder of The Ringer and Spotify's Head of Talk Strategy, is having not...
13/03/2025
Spotify took center stage at the London Book Fair this week, reaffirming our commitment to the audiobook market and showcasing our impact on the publishing indu...
13/03/2025
At Spotify, we work every day to lift up new voices, giving creators the opportunity to live off their art. Through Spotify Audiobooks, our in-house publishing ...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
11/03/2025
Salsa is making a comeback, captivating new listeners with its infectious energy...