Guardian News and Media (GNM) announced today it will launch a weekly audio edition showcasing its news, culture and opinion pieces.
The Guardian Audio Edition will be hosted by columnist Jonathan Freedland. The hour-long audios, produced by the Guardian’s multimedia team, are being launched in conjunction with audible.co.uk.
The audios will contain reviews from content available from Audible.co.uk, the UK’s largest provider of digital audiobooks. Reviews will be hosted by Guardian News & Media’s books editor Claire Armitstead and Guardian books writer Richard Lea.
The Guardian Audio Edition is part of a wider partnership between GNM and Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon.
The partnership includes Audible's sponsorship of the Guardian books homepage, the weekly Guardian books podcast and the Guardian books review pages.
Audio is also running co-branded advertising across the Guardian, including digital ads on the Guardian site and print ads in the main paper and its weekday supplement G2.
Dipesh Morjaria, business director for multimedia at Guardian News & Media, said: “We are delighted to build on our existing partnership with Audible, an authority in the digital spoken word market.
“Our digital first strategy and open philosophy means we are constantly looking for new ways to showcase our content and engage new audiences, and The Guardian Audio Edition aims to do this by bringing the sound of the Guardian to life as the very best of our award-winning journalism is translated into spoken word.”
Audible.co.uk's Emilie Marneur said: “We’re thrilled to be working closely with the Guardian’s award-winning team of journalists, producers and reviewers on The Guardian Audio Edition. It is an exciting new project that will give a voice to the Guardian’s journalism, for the first time allowing people to listen to the best of the Guardian each week.
“We know from our customers that digital spoken word is an essential medium through which they stay entertained and informed while getting the most from their mobile devices.”
The Guardian Audio Editions will be available free of charge on Guardian.co.uk, Audible.co.uk,Soundcloud.com and iTunes.
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