Leading content studio Platform Media is merging with Listen Entertainment and Goldhawk Productions to create what it describes as a “content supergroup”.
With combined revenues deep into eight figures and over 70% growth in the past year, Platform Media said the merger “brings together market leaders in video podcasting, immersive audio storytelling, branded entertainment and social amplification to offer a one-stop shop of production, media, marketing and monetisation”.
Listen was acquired by PodX in 2023 while Platform Media was acquired by PodX in 2024 – so there is already a shared ambition for the two companies. Having worked together under parent company PodX for nine months, Josh Adley, managing director of Listen, and Matthew Sherry, CEO of Platform Media, will step in as co-CEOs, of the enlarged group, driving the company’s next phase of expansion.
The new company will retain the Platform Media name. Recent hit launches from the combined outfit include Olivia Attwood’s So Wrong It’s Right, BBC’s The Traitors: Uncloaked, The Good, The Bad, and The Rugby with Mike Tindall, James Haskell and Alex Payne, Central Intelligence with Kim Cattrall and Ed Harris, Child with India Rakusen, and Making A Scene with David Walliams and Matt Lucas.
While Platform Media will act as the central hub for branded entertainment, marketing, and monetisation, there is still a role for the three content labels within the group. Listen will continue to lead in entertainment, developing visualised podcasts that bridge TV, SVOD, and audio, with major examples including The Traitors: Uncloaked and Disney’s Rivals: The Official Podcast. Folding Pocket is focused on sports content, producing The Good, The Bad & The Rugby and the new football-meets-food series Scran Away in partnership with Only Scrans. Goldhawk, a leader in fiction and factual audio storytelling, continues to work with major A-list talent and inspire TV adaptations.
“There are seismic shifts happening in the podcast industry right now,” said Sherry. “We’ve pioneered a unique monetisation model that is leading the industry forward. This merger is the natural next step, and we’re ready to make a lasting impact.”
Josh Adley, who presented ‘How to Make Money in Podcasting’ at last week’s TellyCast How to Make Money in Digital added: “Matthew and I have been trying to find ways to work more closely for years, underpinned by having the same vision for the future of the podcast industry.”
Founded in 2021, Stockholm-based PodX Group invests in the world’s leading podcast studios, providing access to a global network, growth capital, and business development to support international expansion and commercialisation for emerging podcast producers and creators. PodX Group’s main shareholder Qarlbo is a Sweden-based global investment company owned by the Jonsson family.
Photo shows Matthew Sherry (left) and Josh Adley. Credit: Tom Harrison Photography
