A multi-year, multi-platform creative partnership has been forged between the nation’s No. 1 owner of AM and FM stations and a digital creator of news content.
The agreement brings stories from OZY Media to iHeartMedia’s national cross-platform network, allowing iHeart’s consumer to read OZY stories on a range of topics spanning from politics to culture to technology to sports.
How will iHeart deliver the news to its consumers? OZY stories will be supplied to morning shows at stations across 150 U.S. markets in the U.S.
It was not clear if local stations are being mandated to use OZY stories via a corporate-level agreement with iHeart, removing local management decision-making from the programming process.
The new partnership between iHeart and OZY includes promotion across iHeartMedia’s radio, digital, social and live events and was forged by iHM President of Ventures Joe Robinson.
“We are impressed with OZY’s rapid growth, diverse content and versatility across platforms, especially in today’s competitive media landscape,” Robinson said. “We are excited to partner with OZY. This partnership gives us the opportunity to share even more critical news and information with our diverse audience.”
In addition to stories from OZY being delivered to listeners by such hosts as Bobby Bones, Paul Castronovo, Ryan Seacrest, Elvis Duran and Ellen K, iHeartMedia and OZY will work together to co-produce iHeartRadio Original podcasts — and develop shared revenue opportunities for advertisers. The iHeartRadio Podcast Network has more than 630 original shows available to listeners nationwide.
In addition, OZY Media’s podcast series “The Thread,” which takes listeners through nearly a century of great American stories, will join iHeartRadio as part of the agreement.
“What better company to partner with than iHeartMedia, which reaches more than 90 percent of Americans a month,” said Carlos Watson, co-founder and CEO of OZY Media. “We’re proud to bring the best of OZY to iHeart listeners, and hope they will be surprised, delighted, and enlightened by this offering, and what’s to come.”
OZY Media recently announced its third prime-time TV series with PBS, Breaking Big. It profiles 12 celebrities and influencers and tells the stories of how they “broke big.” The series premieres on Friday, June 15 at 8:30pm Eastern.
