In Celebration of International Podcast Day ƹϴýAnnounces The Return Of The iHeartƹϴý Podcast Awards

iHeartƹϴý’s Second Annual Major Live Podcast Awards Ceremony Will Return to the iHeartƹϴý Theater Los Angeles on January 17, 2020

NEW YORK – September 30, 2019– In celebration of International Podcast Day, iHeartMedia, the No. 1 globally, today announced the return of the iHeartƹϴý Podcast Awards to the iHeartƹϴý Theater Los Angeles on Friday, January 17, 2020 at 8 p.m. PT. The second annual live awards event, which will broadcast and stream live across ƹϴýstations nationwide, will honor the most entertaining and innovative podcasts of 2019 and will span 30 categories, celebrating the incredible talent and wide variety of leaders across the booming podcasting industry.

Last year’s winners at the inaugural iHeartƹϴý Podcast Awards included Slate’s “Slow Burn” for Podcast of the Year; “Up and Vanished” for Best Crime Podcast; “The Joe Rogan Experience” for Best Comedy Podcast; Marc Smerling, host of “Crimetown” and “The RFK Tapes,” for Podcast Innovator; “Fantasy Footballers” for Best Sports Podcast; and Dax Shepard and Monica Padman of “Armchair Expert” for Breakout Podcast of the Year, among many other categories and winners. The event featured appearances by award nominees, celebrity presenters and other special guests including Mike Tyson, Dax Shepard, Jillian Michaels, Jana Kramer, Topher Grace, Dr. Drew, Becca Tilley, Scheana Shay, Dean Unglert, Vanessa Grimaldi, Jake Brennan, Charlamagne Tha God, Holly Frey and more. NPR was also honored with the first-ever iHeartƹϴý Podcast Pioneer Award.

“The podcasting landscape has truly grown and is now reaching a mainstream audience,” said Anya Grundmann, Senior Vice President for Programming and Audience Development at NPR. “As a ‘Podcast Pioneer’ we are thrilled to see the range of terrific new programs out there and excited that iHeart has created such a powerful platform to showcase standout shows.”

International Podcast Day celebrates the power of podcasts, which continues to see tremendous growth into mainstream audiences with millions of new listeners. Podcast listenership in the United States alone has grown exponentially with an estimated 17 million more monthly podcast listeners in 2019 than in 2018. Today podcasts reach 90 million active listeners in America, exceeding the listenership of both satellite radio and all major streaming music services. iHeartMedia, which reaches a quarter of billion monthly listeners in the U.S. with just its broadcast radio stations and on-air personalities alone, will celebrate the best in podcasts with existing fans, while also continuing to introduce millions of new listeners to this incredible medium every single day.

“When we introduced the iHeartƹϴý Podcast Awards last year, we knew we wanted to celebrate the most talented podcast creators out there – the key reason that podcasting continues to grow exponentially,” said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartPodcast Network. “The response to last year’s awards was amazing. This is the one time of the year that all the most popular podcasters come together to celebrate the community of podcasting truly as colleagues, not competitors. The iHeartƹϴý Podcast Awards bring everyone into one room – the biggest hosts, producers and distributors – all committed to this amazing podcast medium and to seeing its incredible growth continue.”

Podcast fans themselves will once again decide the winner of the “Podcast of the Year” award through online and social voting across Twitter and Instagram. Nominees will include podcasts from all creators, distributors and platforms, and a panel of blue-ribbon podcast industry leaders, creatives and visionaries will determine the winner across remaining categories including entertainment, comedy, crime, news, sports, food, LGBTQ+, business and more. In addition, this year’s awards will include three Icon Awards -- The Innovator Award, The Social Impact Award and The Pioneer Award. Select category winners will be announced during the live show and stream filled with unique celebrations at the iHeartƹϴý Theater Los Angeles. More details will be shared soon.

The 2020 iHeartƹϴý Podcast Awards is part of iHeartMedia’s roster of incredibly successful, nationally-recognized events, including the iHeartƹϴý Music Awards, the iHeartƹϴý Music Festival, the nationwide iHeartƹϴý Jingle Ball Concert Tour, iHeartƹϴý Fiesta Latina, iHeartCountry Festival, iHeartƹϴý ALTer Ego and iHeartƹϴý Wango Tango. For more information visit .

About iHeartMedia, Inc.

iHeartMedia, Inc. [Nasdaq: IHRT] is the leading audio media company in America, with 90% of Americans listening to iHeart broadcast radio in every month. iHeart’s broadcast radio assets alone have a larger audience in the U.S. than any other media outlet; twice the size of the next largest broadcast radio company; and over four times the ad-enabled audience of the largest digital only audio service. iHeart is the largest podcast publisher according to Podtrac, with more downloads than the next two podcast publishers combined, has the most recognizable live events across all genres of music, has the number one social footprint among audio players, with seven times more followers than the next audio media brand, and is the only fully integrated audio ad tech solution across broadcast, streaming and podcasts. The company continues to leverage its strong audience connection and unparalleled consumer reach to build new platforms, products and services. Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company information.