Kelce brothers announce $100M ‘landmark deal’ for podcast in sign of audio format’s growth

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Travis Kelce is making waves in the podcast world like he does on the football field.

The Kansas City Chiefs star and his brother, Jason Kelce, a television analyst and former NFL standout, on Tuesday announced a “landmark deal” with Amazon-owned podcast network Wondery for their “New Heights” podcast.

The agreement is worth more than $100 million over three years, ESPN reported. It includes exclusive rights to monetize and distribute content, according to Wondery.

“We have a new home, and that is Wondery,” Jason Kelce said in an episode of the podcast released Wednesday.

One step closer to New Heights world domination New episodes of @NewHeightshow drop every Wednesday starting today! https://t.co/9ocEoja4Tn pic.twitter.com/Z4ZM7wJ5YP

— Wondery (@WonderyMedia) August 28, 2024

“It won’t affect you guys viewing this once every week,” he added. “It’s still gonna drop every week on YouTube, wherever you listen to our podcast, and now it will also be available on the Wondery app.”

The Kelce brothers began “New Heights” in 2022, sharing stories about life and football, and interviewing celebrities. Since then, the show has attracted around 2.5 million subscribers to its YouTube channel and more than 453,000 followers on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Gabriel Soto, a senior director of research at Edison Research, has tracked the growth of “New Heights” and the entire podcast market.

“In fall of 2022, it was a very small blip in the podcasting world, a small audience, and it grew tremendously,” Soto said.

Travis Kelce’s relationship with music star Taylor Swift, which became public in September 2023, has helped fuel that. The show experienced more than fourfold growth in weekly reach among listeners 13 and older after the romance came to light, according to a report from Edison Research.

“Wondery surely is willing to bet on that value by providing a lot of this funding to the Kelce brothers,” Soto said, “and they expect a return on investment.”

The Kelce brothers are among a growing number of athletes hosting their own podcasts. The podcast ranks also include current and former NFL players, and NBA players like LeBron James and Draymond Green.

“All of these are current players that are willing to make a podcast and talk about their lives and create this brand for themselves while they’re still playing in sports,” Soto said.

This growth in athlete podcasts is driven partly their low cost and ease of production, and by sports figures’ desire to tell their own stories.

“Athletes are more in tune with the business and the value there is to creating their own brand using the current platform that they have while they are active and on a current team and in the current sport to set themselves up for the future,” Soto said.

Research shows American sports fans are eager to listen. Over the last year, about two-thirds of fans listened to audio sports content, according to the Sports Audio Report from Edison Research, SiriusXM and GroupM. Among listeners 34 and younger, podcasts made up roughly three-fourths of that audio.

Sports podcast listeners spend an average of $321 on sports merchandise each year, according to that report.

Sports shows are not the only podcasts landing lucrative deals, though. Last week, Alex Cooper, the host of the comedy and relationship podcast “Call Her Daddy,” signed a $125 million deal with SiriusXM.

“Within a week, these two big deals have happened,” Soto said, “which goes to show how much podcasting is evolving.”

A May report from Edison Research showed one-third of U.S citizens 12 and older listen to podcasts on a weekly basis, and 47% are monthly listeners.

Edison’s report highlighted the opportunity for advertisers in podcasts, as 56% of monthly listeners have an annual household income over $75,000. Additionally, almost half of listeners have a college degree.

Market research company Emarketer forecasted in June that U.S. adult podcast listeners would spend an average of 50 minutes per day tuned into programming in 2024.

“It is going to continue to mature,” Soto said.

“I think we’re going to find many other ways to bring on more voices, more perspectives.”