Luminary Podcast Service Now Available in South Africa

Luminary Media, an original podcast content subscription service, announced today that it is now available in South Africa, bringing its original podcast content to South African listeners for the first time.

"We are proud to offer original content from our talented creators to South Africa, where podcast listenership continues to rapidly grow. With talented hosts like Trevor Noah, Celeste Barber, and Russell Brand, the Luminary network is offering quality content that we know listeners will want to hear," said Luminary CEO Simon Sutton.

"We are particularly proud to bring Trevor Noah's show to his home in South Africa, where there has been high demand for access to his important and insightful conversations," said Matt Sacks, Luminary Founder and Executive Chairman.

Luminary's launch in South Africa is part of an international expansion that includes Ireland and New Zealand, which brings Luminary content to Africa for the first time, and doubles the number of international locations where Luminary is offered (currently Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia).

Each of the three countries included in the expansion have shown strong growth in podcast listenership, with more than 4 million monthly podcast listeners across the three countries based on estimates from Reuters. South Africa in particular is an exciting new market for Luminary, as there has been high demand from listeners for The Trevor Noah Podcast and other original shows.

Luminary offers all listeners a seven-day free trial of Luminary Premium. After the free trial, the price in South Africa will be R34.99/mo for a monthly subscription or R249.99/yr for an annual subscription. Subscribers will have access to nearly 40 original podcasts.

Since launching ten months ago, Luminary's podcast content has had a strong positive reaction from critics and listeners, as Luminary creators were recently honored with 2019 Podcast of the Year Awards from AdWeek and named in 2019 "best podcasts" and "best podcast episodes" lists by The Atlantic, Time, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Marie Claire, IndieWire, O The Oprah Magazine, Esquire, Vulture, The AV Club and Good Housekeeping.

This global expansion comes on the heels of Simon Sutton, the former President and Chief Revenue Officer of HBO, joining Luminary as CEO, and Richard Plepler, the former CEO & Chairman of HBO, joining Luminary's Board of Directors. Sutton and Plepler are bringing their deep expertise of quality content -- from both HBO and Plepler's Eden Productions and its exclusive partnership with Apple TV+ ? and proven track record of success.

These moves are part of Luminary's continued growth and evolution in this dynamic market, where in the United States, 90 million Americans have listened to a podcast in the last 30 days according to Edison Research and Triton Digital.

Luminary subscribers will have access to the following shows:

New seasons debuting on Luminary in 2020

• The Trevor Noah Podcast
• Celeste & Her Best, with Celeste Barber
• The C-Word, with Lena Dunham and Alissa Bennett
• Tabloid, from New York Magazine
• Snap Judgment presents Spooked
• Karamo
• Fiasco
• Wisdom from the Top, with Guy Raz
• Love + Radio
• The AM Archives
• Stoop Talks
• The Black List Podcast
• Lies We Tell
• Corner Wolves
• Murder on the Towpath (with Soledad O'Brien)

Currently running on Luminary/In Luminary's catalog and available in 2020

• Under the Skin with Russell Brand
• I AM RAPAPORT STEREO PODCAST
• LGBTQ&A
• Note to Self
• Guys We F*cked
• Hear to Slay
• History on Fire
• The Trip
• Metaphysical Milkshake with Rainn Wilson and Reza Aslan
• Food Actually with Tamar Adler
• Vocal Point with Martina McBride
• Making a Killing with Bethany McLean
• Anthem: Homunculus
• The Rewatchables ?99 from The Ringer
• Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock ?99 from The Ringer
• Frontier Tween from Team Coco
• Hyper-Thetical
• Players Tribune: The Podcast
• Poetics with Omari Hardwick
• Sincerely X from TED
• Smartr from Team Coco
• Sonic Boom: How Seattle Lost Its Team from The Ringer
• The Ten

About Luminary

Luminary is an original podcast subscription service. Luminary offers a network of top quality podcasts available only on Luminary. Luminary podcasts feature some of the most recognizable voices in podcasting, leading entertainers, and diverse and emerging voices. Luminary also offers a free podcast app with simple user interface and smart content discovery. Luminary was founded by Matt Sacks in 2018 with backing from NEA, a global venture capital fund with $20 billion in assets under management. Driven by the singular mission to improve the podcasting experience for both listeners and creators, Luminary is making it easier for podcast listeners to find great content and for podcast creators to do their best work. The free Luminary app is available on iOS, Android, and web.

For more information, visit luminarypodcasts.com or follow @hearluminary.

Note: Please reach out to [email protected] if you would like to receive free media access to Luminary Premium to review shows or listen to content.