Pandora is continuing to focus efforts on non-music related exclusives after securing another high-profile US podcast series in This American Life, from the same creators that handed it Serial last year.
The news comes swiftly after Pandora started getting in on the music streaming exclusive game with a mixtape from Young Thug.
This American Life takes second place to Serial on the US’s most popular podcast list, with over 2.2 million downloads per episode.
Hosted by Ira Glass (pictured), who’s also the exec producer of Serial, This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and first went on air in 1995.
New episodes will go live on Mondays and can be listened to via iOS, Android, tablet or on the web. Each episode takes on a single theme with a variety of stories divided into parts, so fans can skip forward, replay something that’s been missed, or stop and pick up where they left off.
“Pandora listeners loved Serial, to the tune of over 15.6 million streams of Season One and Season Two,” said Chris Phillips, Chief Product Officer, Pandora.
“There’s a huge appetite for a wider range of entertainment and deeper listening experience, and we can’t wait to introduce our listeners to the compelling storytelling in This American Life.”
Serial is a podcast that tells one story over the course of an entire season, hosted by Sarah Koenig and produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago.
The first season launched in October 2014 and Serial became the most popular podcast in the history of the medium, with over 150 million downloads to date.
“Putting Serial on Pandora was an experiment, because we really didn’t know if their listeners wanted to tune into hour-long stories. As it turns out… millions of them did!” said Glass.
“We hope and believe that the same thing will be true for This American Life, and Pandora will turn their listeners into fans. Because, you know, we like it when people listen.”
Pandora began offering its listeners non-music content in 2011 when comedy was added to the platform. Early last year, through a partnership with Ford F-150, “Country Built” was launched – a unique combination of both music and non-music content chronicling the history of country music narrated and hosted by songwriter Otis Gibbs.
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