Global acquires popular political podcast The Trawl

Global, the Media & Entertainment Group, has acquired the exclusive production and ad sales rights to The Trawl, a high-profile podcast hosted by political commentator Marina Purkiss, and broadcaster and writer Jemma Forte.

Every week, Marina and Jemma scroll through social media to unearth the most entertaining, and often damning political discussions. They explore the biggest political stories of the week and have interviewed high-profile guests including Carol Vorderman, comedian Jen Brister, and Green Peer Jenny Jones.

The podcast is now produced by Global’s award-winning in-house production team and it will be available to Global’s advertising partners for host read and spot ad opportunities. It will also be added to DAX, Global’s digital ad exchange with pioneering audience targeting and measurement tools.

Marina & Jemma said: “We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved so far with The Trawl but it’s definitely time to take it out of our bedrooms and into the state-of-the-art studios at Global. We both listen to LBC all the time and love The News Agents podcast so becoming part of the Global network feels like a perfect fit. With the weight of Global behind us, we are hoping their experienced sales house will take the pod to the next level, find more ears for us to beam into and continue to grow our audience.”

Vicky Etchells, Global’s Head of News and Factual podcasts said: “I’m delighted to be welcoming The Trawl to Global. This year will see more elections than any other year in history as around half the world goes to the polls, so it’s the perfect time to expand our news podcast portfolio.

“Hosts Marina Purkiss and Jemma Forte have a unique style that combines expert analysis with witty, relatable humour and with so many political podcasts led by all-male line-ups, I’m looking forward to working with two incredibly impressive women. Their entertaining and candid conversations have built up a loyal audience and the podcast will sit seamlessly alongside our slate of hit news podcasts which includes The News Agents with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall, Full Disclosure with James O’Brien, and Rachel Johnson’s Difficult Women.”

The Trawl was launched in July 2022 and the podcast was previously produced and represented by Goalhanger.