• by Ray Schultz , September 24, 2024

Newsweek has chosen Headliner’s Disco, an AI-powered tool that provides readers with podcast recommendations, to drive discovery. 

Disco recommends relevant episodes next to the articles people are reading, Headliner says.

Newsweek seeks to leverage “the power of audio through a variety of news, political, and pop-culture themed podcasts that we launched over the years," says Jesse Edwards, director of radio and podcasting for Newsweek. "Disco by Headliner enables us to convert our website traffic into podcast listens, support new revenue streams, and connect with a new generation of highly-engaged mobile audiences that prefer audio and video-based storytelling and news consumption."

The firm cites a Pew Research Center survey showing that around half of U.S. adults listened to a podcast in the last year. However, only 20% did so with a podcast connected to a news organization. 

"Podcast discovery continues to be a major hurdle, especially for traditional publishers and news sites," says Neil Mody, CEO of Headliner. "While YouTube, Spotify, and Apple are the leading podcast platforms, there is a great opportunity for Disco to fill the discovery gap for forward-thinking publishers like Newsweek.”