National Public Media to sell ads for This American Life

National Public Media (NPM), the sponsorship subsidiary of NPR, PBS and WGBH, announced today that it will become the sole sales representative for podcast sales of This American Life on August 1.

The Pulitzer and Peabody Award-winning show hosted by Ira Glass has held a consistent spot in the Podtrac Top 20 ranker since 2016 and reaches 2 million weekly podcast listeners. This American Life will join NPM’s sales portfolio of audience-favorite podcasts which includes NPR’s Fresh Air, Up First, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and more.

Along with the partnership, NPM and This American Life also announced that the podcast will now feature one midroll sponsorship message per episode voiced by Host Ira Glass. This is a first-of-its kind offering for brands to align with one of public media’s most beloved and recognizable voices.

Ira Glass says, “Every press release in the world says the word ‘thrilled,’ and you’re like, ‘Thrilled? Really?’ But let me say sincerely: We are thrilled to be partnering with NPM. We talked to lots of companies about taking over our podcast sales, and NPM saw the biggest potential in our show. They also understand our roots as a show that began on public radio, and the sound we’re going for with the ads on our podcast.”

National Public Media is the leading sponsorship sales organization for public media. For over thirty years, NPM has been the exclusive sponsorship sales organization for NPR and offers brands best-in-class audio and digital sponsorship opportunities. NPM has worked with hundreds of today’s most recognizable brands to craft audio campaigns that fit the tone and style of public media programming and drive consideration, intent, awareness and trust with audiences.

With only 37% of NPR podcast users also listening to This American Life, this partnership allows brands to reach a largely un-duplicated segment of the public media audience in seamless alignment with their NPR podcast buys.

“Once in a long while in business, a marriage comes along which is just perfect, where the union makes each party better,” said David Heller, founder of Assemble Partners, an ad agency with a unique expertise in public media and podcasts. Assemble Partners and NPM have been close partners since 2010, developing hundreds of successful campaigns together over the past 14 years. “NPM and This American Life might just become one of those special business relationships. Putting the NPM sales team, with their high level of expertise, service and creativity, together with the podcast that taught the world what great audio storytelling is, seems like it might be a combo made in heaven. I can’t wait to work with them!”

“NPM was an early leader in podcast sponsorship sales and we are extremely proud to add an iconic podcast like This American Life to our offering,” added NPM SVP of National Sales Scott Davis.

This American Life continues to be produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and the radio program is delivered to stations by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange, which also handles broadcast sponsorship.

ABOUT NATIONAL PUBLIC MEDIA

National Public Media is a full-service corporate sponsorship organization, working with brands, agencies, producers and broadcasters to develop campaigns that deliver on sponsor objectives while fueling the mission of public media. It serves as the exclusive sponsorship representative for the NPR network, which reaches 42M people weekly across platforms, and designs multi-market campaigns with public media stations around the country. National Public Media is committed to excellence in audience research, measurement tools, product design and creative consultation and production for each of its brand and station partners.

National Public Media is jointly owned by NPR, PBS and GBH.

ABOUT THIS AMERICAN LIFE

This American Life went on the air in 1995 and has since won every major broadcasting award, including the first ever Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting. The show is widely credited for creating the sound of modern audio storytelling with its true stories that unfold like little movies for radio. It’s the most popular weekly podcast in the world, and in addition is heard on more than 500 public radio stations nationwide.