Hyphenate Media Group, the banner headed by Eva Longoria and Cris Abrego, has taken an fairness stake in iHeartMedia’s My Cultura podcast community and can produce a slate of recent titles for the Latino-focused platform.

The deal is an outgrowth of Longoria’s work with iHeart over the previous three years as host of the “Hungry for Historical past” and “Connections with Eva Longoria” podcasts. The pact with Hyphenate was modeled partially on the deal iHeart struck in 2020 with iHeart radio star Charlamagne Tha God to launch the Black Impact podcast community. That vertical been enormously profitable for iHeart, for Charlamagne and the expertise related to Black Impact.

As a part of the deal, Hyphenate will turn out to be a member of My Cultura’s board of advisors.

“Storytelling shapes how we see ourselves and the way the world sees us, and podcasting is likely one of the most intimate, accessible, and highly effective methods to attach with audiences and share significant, genuine conversations,” Longoria stated. “There’s by no means been a extra pressing time to raise Latino voices and expertise. By means of this partnership between Hyphenate and iHeart’s My Cultura, we’re constructing an even bigger platform for tales that replicate the richness and complexity of our neighborhood.”

The pact marks a giant growth for Hyphenate into the world of audio. The corporate was shaped in 2023 to develop and produce a broad vary of TV, digital and audio content material with an emphasis on the rising worlds of auteur-driven media. Just like the Black Impact mannequin, Hyphenate intends to work with podcast creators in a approach that offers expertise significant stakes within the content material they create, Abrego informed Selection.

“Podcasting is one other nice alternative for us to inform extra tales are in keeping with Hyphenate, which are premium, talent-driven and creator led,” he says. “My Cultura provides us pores and skin within the recreation and a seat on the desk. It actually is sensible for us as a result of we constructed Hyphenate to essentially scale. We’re getting excited to launch a bunch of recent stuff in the summertime. This growth into audio is a pure development for us.”

The appreciable attain of iHeart signifies that new exhibits don’t have to begin from scratch to seek out an viewers, which can vastly profit expertise, Abrego provides.

The My Cultura banner debuted in 2021 and has seen double-digit progress in listenership in the course of the previous 12 months. Per iHeart’s analysis, Latinos are the among the many fastest-growing demographics for podcast listenership, with 43% of Hispanic Individuals listening to podcast month-to-month, up 79% in comparison with 5 years in the past. Actor and entrepreneur Wilmer Valderrama additionally has an fairness stake in My Cultura and hosted the “My Necessities” podcast on the platform in 2022.

Enrique Santos, iHeartMedia’s top-rated on-air persona who hosts “The Enrique Santos Morning Present” out of Miami and in addition serves as president and CEO of iHeartLatino, stated the cope with Hyphenate was a becoming approach to mark the platform’s fourth anniversary. And he hailed Longoria for her position in growing a Latino-led studio in Hyphenate.

“Eva brings along with her a profound dedication to genuine storytelling and her imaginative and prescient aligns completely with My Cultura’s mission to create groundbreaking content material that resonates with audiences worldwide. She has lengthy been a robust advocate for Latino voices, and her work each in entrance of and behind the digicam has elevated our tradition in significant, lasting methods,” Santos stated. “Her management continues to open doorways and alter narratives, making her a real drive for illustration.”

Abrego emphasised that Hyphenate is investing in audio leisure and podcasting as a medium unto itself — with income and revenue largely pushed by promoting and associated licensing and merchandising offers. Podcasts are additionally an efficient automobile for incubating concepts that may be expanded in media akin to TV, movie and books, and for permitting promising expertise to develop.

“Podcasting has matured a lot within the final 10 years. We need to give attention to what makes an ideal podcast, which is a superb storyteller. And positive that may translate into incubating an concept that might be nice for tv,” Abrego says. “We do have that in thoughts, however we lead with how can we make an ideal podcast, and who can be an ideal storyteller and what can be an ideal subject material in that space, as a result of we need to achieve success first in audio.”