Complex, the male-leaning content company behind massive YouTube series like Hot Ones and Sneaker Shopping, is diving deeper into the podcast space.
Complex, which is jointly owned by Verizon and Hearst, is launching its first formla audio slate, Deadline reports, in collaboration with Acast — a five-year-old podcast ad sales and distribution platform.
The slate of three shows, launching in mid-November, includes: Watch Less, a movie and TV-centric series hosted by staffers Khal and Frazier Tharpe; Load Management, which will explore the world of sports under the tutelage of hosts Chopz and Adam Caparell; and The Complex Sneakers Podcast, hosted by Joe La Puma (pictured above, of Sneaker Shopping fame) alongside Matthew Welty and Brendan Dunne. On that show, the trio will discuss the most important sneaker news on a weekly basis.
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While this marks Complex’s first so-called slate, the company has delved into audio before with the daily morning show Everyday Struggle and a companion series for its beloved Hot Ones franchise. Complex also plans to host a live series of podcast recordings — including The No Chill Podcast, The Read, and Thug Motivation — at its flagship live event, ComplexCon Long Beach, which is slated for this weekend.
“We have a track record of building big universes and fandom around our IP, and audio continues to be a natural format for us to expand into,” Myles O’Connell, Complex’s SVP of global content distribution, told Deadline. “Based on our expertise of building communities online and off, we see a big whitespace opportunity for our fans to engage with this format and our talent IRL which is why we’re bringing it all to ComplexCon.”
