The National Basketball Association is teaming up with iHeartMedia for a significant new push into the podcast market. In all, the two organizations plan to co-produce more than 20 shows together as part of a new multi-year partnership, with the first one to debut sometime this fall.
In addition to content devoted to the latest news from the league, analysis and player commentary, it sounds like iHeart and the NBA want to replicate the success of projects like The Last Dance. They say they’ll use material from the NBA archives to retell stories of “some of the greatest moments in sports history.” What exactly they have planned on that front, we don’t know yet, though iHeart and the NBA promised to share more information soon.
“The partnership provides the NBA and its teams access to iHeartMedia’s massive reach across multiple audio platforms including podcasts, streaming and broadcast radio, as well as the opportunity to develop a new slate of groundbreaking shows each year,” iHeart said.
Podcasts, in particular ones related to sports, have become big business in recent months. At the end of April, DraftKings spent $50 million to secure distribution rights to The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.