A leading Australian radio group has forged a partnership with a leading Australian podcast company, as ARN and Whooshkaa join together to create a content network described as having “unprecedented reach and flexibility.”
The deal is the latest in a series of alliances which join podcast companies with radio networks, both in the States and Australia. PodcastOne is engaged with Southern Cross Austereo, and recently Acast and NOVA announced a tie-up.
ARN has total or partial ownership in 12 radio stations in Australia, a nation of 25-million citizens. The ARN signals serve over 4-million listeners, and the company’s digital listenership ship numbers 2.7-million.
ARN also manages iHeartRadio in Australia, which it launched in 2013. The Aussie market has downloaded that highly recognized app over a million times.
In the deal, Whooshkaa will host all of ARN’s podcasts, which include a lot of the radio company’s breakfast and drivetime talent. The two companies will work together to monetize shows.
“Our tech stack helps companies with on-demand audio hosting, recording, distribution and commercialisation,” said Rob Loewenthal, CEO of Whooshkaa. “We are now the largest and most diverse digital audio network in Australia.”
“We’ve partnered with Whooshkaa to take advantage of this emerging opportunity,” said ARN CEO Ron Atkinson. “They offer some of the most innovative solutions for audio technology and sales in the world and we provide the best audio content in Australia. That’s why the partnership is fantastic.”