The Standard Partner with Message Heard to Power its New Audio Strategy

The Standard, London’s premier digital source for news, culture and sport is proud to announce an integrated strategic partnership with leading podcast production company Message Heard.

Establishing a ground-breaking partnership between the two media groups , this new collaboration marks a major step forward in The Standard’s commitment to delivering world-class journalism through compelling audio formats.

As part of the partnership, Message Heard will lead the development and production of The Standard’s award-winning audio output, shaping its podcast strategy and helping the iconic publication bring its stories to life for a new generation of audio-native listeners.

The new partnership builds on the success of (In)Justice: Killer Privilege, a gripping investigative series hosted by Standard journalist Katie Strick in March 2025. Exclusively launched on Wondery+, Killer Privilege quickly resonated with audiences, topping podcast charts in both the US and UK (reaching #2 in the Apple Podcasts Series charts). The series garnered widespread attention across both traditional and podcasting media (featuring the The Times and elsewhere), cementing it as a bold and impactful debut collaboration between Message Heard and the Standard (formerly the Evening Standard, while unlocking the story of grieving mother Katja Faber as she fights to achieve justice for her son Alex, who died in shocking circumstances in 2014.

“This partnership is about more than just content—it’s about true integration. By combining the editorial strength and legacy of the Standard with Message Heard’s storytelling expertise and audio-first approach, we’re creating something genuinely powerful,” said Jake Warren, Founder and CEO of Message Heard.

“This collaboration allows both teams to expand their reach, strengthen our positions in a competitive media landscape, and deliver impactful stories that resonate deeply with audiences.”

The collaboration will encompass both editorial and branded content, with Message Heard bringing its award-winning expertise in podcast development, production, and distribution to the table. From daily news digests to long-form investigative journalism and special series, the new audio offering will reflect the quality and breadth of the Standard’s reporting—with the immersive production and narrative craft Message Heard is known for.

“The Standard has a 198-year history of telling London’s story in ground-breaking new formats and this podcasting partnership is a perfect example of the rapid digital evolution of our newsroom in 2025. Our product has evolved to reflect readers’ changing digital behaviours and with these already successful daily shows we’re proving that media brands are still a huge part of readers’ lives, whatever format they prefer to consume the news in” said Jack Riley, Chief Digital Officer at The Standard.

“We are thrilled to partner with Message Heard on this exciting strategic partnership, combining their excellence in audio with our world-class journalism. We look forward to continuing to share compelling and powerful narratives through audio, setting the standard for brilliance in multimedia storytelling.” said Anna van Praagh, Chief Content Officer at The Standard.

With several other shows already in development, the partnership signals both companies’ shared commitment to innovation, storytelling, and audience engagement in an increasingly audio-driven media landscape.

About Message Heard

Message Heard is an award-winning podcast production company creating original, branded, and editorial content for global audiences. Known for its rich storytelling, innovative sound design, and journalistic integrity, Message Heard partners with brands, publishers, and creatives to produce podcasts that cut through the noise. Creating shows for the likes of Spotify & Wondery, as well as organisations like the House of Commons, FIFPRO and Al Jazeera.

About The Standard

The Standard, formerly the Evening Standard, is London’s premier digital source for news, culture and sport with 24/7 coverage available on standard.co.uk, the Standard’s apps and our social channels. With award-winning coverage from our daily newsletter West End Final and our daily news podcast, The Standard, our digital platforms are used by over 10m UK readers every month to stay up-to-date on everything to do with the capital.

The Standard has a 198-year history of covering London and continues to receive critical and public acclaim for our pioneering original journalism. In 2024, our courts correspondent Tristan Kirk was awarded the Private Eye Paul Foot Award for Investigative and Campaigning Journalism and Journalist of the Year at the Press Awards for his investigation into the secretive court process known as the Single Justice Procedure. Also at the 2024 Press Awards, the Evening Standard was nominated for National Newspaper of the Year and fashion editor Joe Bromley was commended for young journalist of the year.

This came off the back of a remarkable year of growth which saw the industry reporting body PAMCO record The Standard as having the highest audience growth of all quality newspaper brands in H1 2024.

Available in print from Thursday afternoon and to pick up throughout the weekend, The London Standard launched in Sep '24 as our complementary essential and comprehensive guide to London and its arts and culture that can’t be missed

The Standard is the UK’s leading campaigning newspaper, driving real change through impactful appeals. Our 2024 A Place to Call Home appeal raised £3m, prompting government action on homelessness. In 2023, our Winter Survival Appeal raised £2.45m—the highest newspaper appeal total that year. Landmark campaigns include £10m for The Felix Project in 2020 to fight food poverty during Covid.