[Source: BBC Entertainment]
NFL stars Travis and Jason Kelce have signed a lucrative podcast deal with Amazon, reportedly worth $100m (£75m).
The three-year deal, announced on Tuesday, gives the company’s Wondery audio network exclusive multimedia rights to the brothers’ popular New Heights podcast.
The pair said they “couldn’t be more excited” at the deal ahead of the show’s third series.
The siblings launched the podcast in 2022 – interviewing celebrity guests and discussing their own lives – all with brotherly humour.
Travis, 34, a three-time Super Bowl champion for the Kansas City Chiefs, has since found wider fame as the boyfriend of pop megastar Taylor Swift.
Elder brother Jason, 36, recently retired after 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and has taken up an analyst role with ESPN.
Podcast boom
The deal marks a high watermark in the booming popularity of both sport podcasts and the medium in general, with New Heights winning podcast of the year at the 2024 iHeartPodcast Awards.
Wondery boss Jen Sargent said: “New Heights on the surface is a sports podcast, and sports is such a well-listened-to category. But it’s become a cultural phenomenon, they’re all in that zeitgeist.”
According to Nielsen’s recent podcast analysis, the number of Americans listening to podcasts has increased by 45% in the last five years alone – more than doubling in the past decade to reach 183m people.
A similar shift has happened in the UK, with ad revenue spiking worldwide to be worth billions, according to PwC.
The rise reflects a change in consumption habits, with younger audiences increasingly choosing podcasts over linear TV.
The Kelces’ signing to Wondery follows the company’s similar deal with comedian and podcaster Dax Shephard last month.
Other big-name, big-money podcast deals include Joe Rogan’s $100m partnership with Spotify and Alex Cooper’s move to Sirius XM.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Kelce would host US gameshow Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, also for Amazon.
