iHeartRadio Podcasts Going Global

iHeartMedia, the No. 1 commercial podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, Wednesday announced it will translate and distribute a slate of its hit podcasts across the globe by first quarter 2020, marking a significant step in internationally available, regionally targeted content for the podcast industry.

In the first wave, the iHeartPodcast Network will translate six hit podcasts series into the most spoken languages in the world, further extending the podcast medium across new international audiences and serving up incredible content from this exploding medium to listeners around the world, in their native language, at scale.

The first slate of translated shows include “Stuff You Should Know,” “Stuff You Missed in History Class,” “Stuff Mom Never Told You,” “Stuff To Blow Your Mind,” “BrainStuff” and “TechStuff” with many more to come. The six initial podcasts, which have more than two billion downloads to date combined, will be translated into Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, French, German and more, and will be available on all major international audio distribution platforms.

Over the last decade, podcasting has exploded into the mainstream. Listenership in the United States alone has grown exponentially with an estimated 17 million more monthly podcast listeners in 2019 than in 2018.  Additionally, younger Millennials and Gen Z are embracing podcasts, with listening up 48 percent with people aged 12-24, according to an Edison Infinite Dial 2019 study. Through these new translations, iHeartPodcasts will now be available in the native language of more than a billion people across the globe.

“Our goal as the audio leader is to deliver exceptional content to listeners anywhere and everywhere they are, in the way they’d like to hear it,” said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartPodcast Network.

Conal Byrne

“By expanding some of our most popular podcast content into new languages, we see a major opportunity to introduce podcast listening at scale to whole new audiences abroad. What has always set podcasting apart is the engagement of the audiences – the superfans. So it makes sense to engage international audiences further and to super-serve them with content in their own languages to build their relationship with the content. I’m looking forward to seeing how international audiences respond to shows like ‘Stuff You Should Know’ in their own languages – shows which have amassed unbelievable fanbases in the U.S.”

iHeartMedia has invested heavily in podcasting, from acquiring HowStuffWorks in 2018 to producing a slate of new original shows like “The Ron Burgundy Podcast,” “Disgraceland,” “Noble Blood” and “Committed,” as well as over a hundred podcasts from its on-air talent like “Bobbycast” and “The Breakfast Club.” All shows are distributed on all major podcast platforms, including the iHeartRadio app, which additionally distributes more than 250,000 shows. Making some of these podcasts available to international audiences is the next big step in cementing podcasting within the mainstream marketplace and expanding its influence globally. 

iHeartRadio is America’s No. 1 commercial podcaster and the No. 1 streaming digital radio service. Its app is available on over 250 platforms and over 2,000 different connected devices — including smart speakers, digital auto dashes, tablets, wearables, smartphones, virtual assistants, televisions and gaming consoles.