Voyage Media Launches Podcast Division, Debuts Three Stellar Titles to Capitalize on this Fast-Growing Storytelling Medium Podcasts are Increasingly Profitable, More Likely to Lead to Feature/TV Deals

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., July 19: Voyage Media, the industry's first incubator of original film and television content, today announced it is launching its eagerly anticipated podcast production division with three new podcasts – two featuring true crime stories and the third showcases true war stories. Podcasts are an increasingly profitable medium that also offer strong prospects for feature or TV deals -- especially for storytellers just breaking into the business. A Feb. 11 Forbes article reports that in 2020 in the US alone an estimated 100 million people listened to a podcast each month and it's expected to reach 125 million in 2022. Ad dollars are following, as analysts estimated the US podcast ad spend was $800 million in 2020 and will more than double to $1.7 billion by 2024. Including advertising, crowdfunding, and subscription and pay-per-episode models, analysts forecast the global podcasting market to reach $41.8 billion by 2026. "Voyage Media is launching into an incredible growth sector with a pipeline of extraordinary stories," said Nat Mundel, Voyage Media Founder and CEO. "And we're just in the first inning. Podcasts offer uniquely unlimited mobility, and we're thrilled to debut our first three podcasts -- all with blockbuster potential." The first podcast to market is a true-crime thriller, "Let Me Tell You About My Murder." Synopsis: LMTYAMM is a compelling, heartfelt and crazy cautionary tale for every parent about kids on drugs. It plays to the fast-growing, popular true-crime genre. When her daughter dies of a drug overdose, a mother suspects there is more to the story than what investigators uncover and launches her own investigation. Taking great risks and diving into the underworld, she finds the criminals who led her daughter down a tragic path and discovers a powerful truth. LMTYAMM is a scripted audio drama based on a true story, with an original score and immersive soundscapes. The show is hauntingly narrated from beyond the grave, from the perspective of the daughter. All episodes are now published and available on Apple, Google, Spotify and more. Link to listen: https://www.voyagemedia.fm/show/let-me-tell-you-about-my-murder/episode-1/. Otzi the Iceman Must Die Synopsis: A scripted 'what-if' true-crime narrative explaining oldest unsolved cold murder case in human history, based on a true story, and told from the perspective of the killer of Otzi the Iceman. As noted in the opening narration of the show, Otzi the Iceman is a real person. His body was preserved in ice for 5,300 years, before being discovered by hikers in the Italian Alps in 1991. The unique opportunity afforded by Otzi's frozen state is that scientists were able to perform a forensic analysis on him. They studied the copper ax he was found with, a rare and highly valuable tool at the time that marked Otzi as someone of special status. They were able to learn what he ate for his last meal, study his dozens of tattoos, and find out how he died.... He was murdered. The show features popular film and television star Ethan Suplee (Remember The Titans, American History X, The Wolf of Wall Street), in the role of "Rube," the killer of Otzi the Iceman. The first two episodes will be released simultaneously on Monday, July 19th, with Episode 3 slated for Monday, July 26 and the Episode 4 finale on Monday, August 2nd. Available on all podcast platforms and voyagemedia.fm, link to listen: https://www.voyagemedia.fm/show/relic-otzi-the-iceman-must-die/episode-1/ The third Voyage Media podcast title to market is True War Stories. True War Stories is an anthology of historical true war stories, told by the veterans that lived them, that will bewitch and fascinate history and war buffs. One of the first episodes features Mary Edwards Walker, still the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor, as played by actress Lili Taylor (The Conjuring, Six Feet Under), being "interviewed" reading verbatim quotes from the real Mary from the 1800s, alongside two other modern female veterans, discussing how women's treatment in the military has changed (or not changed) across the last 150 years. The first episode is slated to release on September 1st on all podcast platforms and voyagemedia.fm Voyage Media Ongoing Casting Call Voyage Media actively seeks compelling original stories that, with its expertise, mentorship and resources, can be adapted into a podcast (as well as for film or television). Successful podcast stories have great potential to be acquired for film and television. Anyone with a great story is encouraged to apply at https://voyagemedia.com/get-connected/. About Voyage Media Voyage was built to open the closed doors of "Hollywood" and enable emerging storytellers to get the access and information they need to make real progress with their films and TV shows. Its newest initiative is its launch of a storytelling podcast division, and with so much excellent content available, it is designed to compete with players in the space like Wondery, Gimlet Media, and others. Our thesis was that by connecting storytellers to high-level producing mentorship and leveraging the increasingly popular and successful crowdfunding capital raise method, projects could become truly great and connect with a commercial market. And the world was ready for it! Over 70% of storytellers that work closely with our producers get a film/TV rights deal with a bona fide producer/production company. And now we're fully financed and in production on dozens of podcasts, have executed over 280 film/TV deals on behalf of our clients, helped authors in over 50 cases become bestsellers, and one of our projects won an Emmy. The coolest part about it is that when you invest in the development of your stories, you're more likely to retain a higher degree of ownership and influence over how they turn out! For more info, visit: voyagemedia.com.