Pandora Tapped to Stream “Serial” and “This American Life”

Agreement aims to expand podcast listening audience
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Internet streamer Pandora has been selected as the exclusive streaming partner for “Serial” and “This American Life,” beginning Nov. 24 and early 2016, respectively. Both podcasts will also continue to be released on their individual websites and as traditional podcasts.

“Serial” tells one story over the course of a season and is hosted by Sarah Koenig. More than 8 million people have downloaded each episode of the first season to date. “This American Life” is a long-running and popular podcast originating out of WBEZ Chicago and from the same creators as “Serial.”

“We think our listeners will love ‘Serial’ and look forward to helping build its growing number of fans,” said CEO Brian McAndrews.

“Serial” season one will be made available in advance of the Season Two launch, which has not yet been disclosed. However, Season Two will be released on the same weekly schedule as the original — Thursday at 6 a.m. (EST). Pandora users will be able to select individual episodes, as well as the point in the episode when they want to tune in because each episode will be broken into five minute segments, more closely mimicking the other content on the platform. However, for those who want to listen to episodes in their entirety, there will be no interruptions to listening.

“For people already listening to ‘Serial’ and ‘This American Life,’ nothing will change. But we believe lots of people who’d like our shows simply haven’t heard of them, or haven’t started listening to podcasts,” said Ira Glass, editorial advisor of “Serial” and host of “This American Life.” “‘Serial’ is the biggest podcast in the world, but only 17% of Americans listen to podcasts at all. That’s why it’s so exciting for us to work with Pandora. Pandora reaches millions of people who never listen to public radio or download podcasts. This’ll get our shows to them.”

Pandora also announced that the company has completed its acquisition of live events technology company Ticketfly. Read more about the transaction here.

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