ESPN announced “30 for 30 Podcasts” on Wednesday, with original storytelling in audio form launching in early 2017.
The audio series will attempt to follow the highly successful “30 for 30” documentary series, made specifically with an oral narrative approach.
Each episode of “30 for 30 Podcasts” will explore and report on new sports stories, combining original interviews and archival sound. Jody Avirgan will lead a five-person production team and stories will be produced both in-house and in collaboration with outside reporters and documentarians.
“Long-form podcast offerings from ESPN Audio have been popular thus far, and working with the ESPN Films team, we will break new ground with deep reporting and high production values,” ESPN Audio vice president Tom Ricks said in a statement.
ESPN Films vice president and executive producer Libby Geist said in a statement that the podcast series are an “exciting extension” of the “30 for 30” brand.
“With this series, we hope to continue serving our fans on a new platform, but also introduce ’30 for 30′ to audio consumers,” she said.
The podcast world is expanding rapidly and ESPN has some competition. Earlier on Wednesday, Sports Illustrated and DGital Media have announced three new weekly podcasts to coincide with Peter King’s MMQB season-long coverage.