Global, the Media & Entertainment Group, has signed an ad sales partnership with The Athletic, one of the world’s largest digital sports publishers, to monetise its podcast portfolio in the UK and Ireland.

For brands wanting to reach a huge and devoted audience of sports fans, podcasts such as The Athletic Football Podcast and The Totally Football Show are now available through Global for custom reads and sponsorship, with hosts from the likes of James Richardson, former presenter of Channel 4‘s Football Italia, and broadcaster Ayo Akinwolere.

The Athletic delivers powerful stories and smart analysis that bring sports fans closer to the heart of the game. From breaking news and live commentary to deeply-reported long reads and exclusive interviews brought to you by the best journalists, subscribers rely on The Athletic for every sports story that matters.

Having witnessed an explosion in popularity for sports podcasts, The Athletic launched a dedicated podcast division in 2019 to help fans connect with its sport journalism in a new way. Since then, it has produced high-quality and hyper-localised shows and now distributes some of the UK’s most popular sports podcasts to millions of listeners.

“I’m delighted that The Athletic has chosen Global to represent its thriving sports podcast slate. I’m looking forward to working with all our advertising partners to score huge reach amongst an audience of passionate and dedicated sports fans.”

Mike Gordon, Chief Commercial Officer at Global