The deal makes Haymarket the owner of the British Podcast Awards, Australian Podcast Awards and the Irish Podcast Awards.

It will also become a partner in Podcast Day 24, a 24-hour non-stop global podcasting conference with live events in Sydney, London and ending in New York.

The Podcast Awards brands will initially sit within Haymarket Business Media’s marketing communications portfolio, which includes Campaign and PRWeek. Kevin Costello, Chief Executive at Haymarket, highlighted that there are already plans to launch a Podcast360 event as part of the Media360 annual suite of conferences.

Costello said: “This investment reinforces our position in the rapidly growing audio space. We have seen the success of our own audio brands, including the Campaign Podcast, PRWeek Podcast, Third Sector Podcast, Rheum Advisor on Air and GP Online Podcast, and with our experience in the awards space, the addition of the Podcast Awards makes for a perfect fit.”

The British Podcast Awards were established in 2017 by co-founders Matt Deegan and Matt Hill, who later took on the Australian Podcast Awards in 2019 and the Irish Podcasts Awards in 2022. In 2021, they partnered with Radiodays Europe to create Podcast Day 24, which brings together creators, advertisers and platforms from all across the world to share ideas, knowledge and best practice.

Speaking about the partnership, Matt Deegan, co-founder of Podcast Awards Ltd. said: “Having run the Awards since 2017, it was important to find the right partner that empowered us to continue to cater to podcast creators big and small and promote all the great work they do. We have definitely found that with Haymarket. Its global presence allows us to accelerate growth, be more ambitious and get creative with opportunities that until now have been out of reach.”