Podcast startup Luminary emerged out of stealth Monday with a high-profile line-up for its upcoming $7.99 subscription service: Luminary will feature exclusive shows from A-list creators including Lena Dunham, Trevor Noah, NPR’s Guy Raz, Omari Hardwick and others. The service will include a paid tier, as well as free, ad-supported content.
The company’s service will launch with more than 40 original shows, with other creators slated to launch new programming including Bill Simmons’ The Ringer, Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg’s Pushkin Industries, creator of Slow Burn Leon Neyfakh, creator of Planet Money Adam Davidson and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco.
In addition, Luminary also struck deals to become the exclusive new home for a number of existing podcasts including Russell Brand’s “Under the Skin,”
Michael Rapaport’s “Iamrapaport: Stereo Podcast,” “Love and Radio” with Nick van der Kolk, WNYC’s “Note to Self” with Manoush Zomorodi, Hannibal Buress’ “Handsome Rambler” and Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson’s “Guys We F****d.”
Access to Luminary-exclusive shows will require a $7.99 per month subscription. The company will also offer a free tier, which includes access to all of the podcasts you can get on any other podcasting app. Luminary plans to launch in the first half of 2019 with apps for Android and iOS as well as a web version.
Luminary’s launch comes as a number of other companies are looking to capitalize on the growing popularity of podcasts. Spotify spent close to $340 million last month to acquire the podcasting startups Anchor and Gimlet Media, gaining access to a number of high-profile shows with the latter. Pandora has been working to replicate some of its music curation features with its new Podcast Genome Project. And just last month, Himalaya launched a new podcast app with integrated tipping functionality, and a number of exclusive shows.