Zoo 55, part of ITV’s production and distribution arm ITV Studios, has entered into a content partnership with Spotify. The deal will see ITV Studios video content, such as archived The Graham Norton Show, available to Spotify users for the first time.
The move reflects both the audio giant’s strategy of expanding its video offering and ITV’s ongoing efforts to diversify its output on different platforms to expand reach.
Additional ITV Studios content available to Spotify users includes Vice Studios series I Was a Teenage Felon and Dead Set on Life.
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In July, The Media Leader reported on a “first-of-its-kind” partnership between ITV and Disney, which made their content available on each other’s streaming services.
Late last year, ITV also signed a content partnership with YouTube to show full episodes on the Google platform.
ITV wasn’t the first to the YouTube game. In 2022, Channel 4 became the first UK broadcaster to strike a distribution deal for long-form content with the video platform.
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The broadcaster’s move to distribute shows through more platforms highlights a shift towards digital viewing as well as a strategy to boost reach, diversify audiences and, as a result, drive additional revenue streams and potentially deepen its advertiser pool.
Speaking at The Future of Audio and Entertainment in May, Abul Noor, ITV’s head of YouTube sales, stated that, by expanding its distribution strategy to include YouTube, the broadcaster has picked up 2-4% incremental audience reach.
In the same way Channel 4 and ITV have utilised YouTube as a tool for engaging more audiences, Spotify could provide a similar purpose.
In May, Channel 4 announced that content from its digital-first brand, Channel 4.0, would be distributed on Spotify’s mobile and desktop apps.
This marked a first for a UK broadcaster and is part of Channel 4’s strategy to become a “digital-first public-service streamer” by 2030.
Indeed, at The Future of Audio and Entertainment, Katie Bowden, managing director of audio at Global, suggested that placing programming on more platforms allows broadcasters greater opportunity to sell branded content.
With Spotify now offering more than 430,000 video podcasts and consumption on the rise, the platform indeed seems to offer opportunity for incremental reach.
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Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication. An earlier version of this article erroneously referred to ITV Studios as part of ITV’s commercial arm.
