Audio Up is expanding into Spanish-language podcasts. The company will release its first non-English show later this year as part of a just-announced alliance with the Latin American-focused television production company Spiral International. Deadline reports the two companies have formed a joint venture that will see Audio Up and Spiral International develop a slate of podcast and television projects that target listeners and viewers around the world.
Miami-based Spiral International -- which is a subsidiary of Etcétera Group -- is best known for its 2018 police crime series “Falco” that was the first series from Amazon Latin America that was acquired by Telemundo for U.S. audiences. Its alliance with Audio Up brings the company into podcasting.
“The podcast world is on the rise and we are fortunate to have partnered up with the best in the industry,” CEO Zasha Robles said. “Not only is their content innovative, but the twist on music and fiction is a formula that hasn’t been explored before. We’re looking forward to many projects to come, not only as collaborators, but as investors in the Audio Up business. The synergy is very real between our collective worlds.”
The first release will be in the audio space and is set to coincide with the Halloween season. The hybrid comedy-musical podcast, called Dia De Los Muertos In Hell, is a four-episode fictional series that will reportedly tell the story of four broke musicians with a plot line that straddles the dark and spooky Halloween and the lighter-hearted Day of the Dead celebrations of Mexico.
“We’re excited to have a project that encapsulates our capabilities of creating original music and building a scripted franchise in the audio space,” Audio Up CEO Jared Gutstadt said in the announcement. “This is the first of many projects to come, and we are most likely going to use this as a catalyst to create a spin off division focused around Spanish-Language content and original musical content combined.”
Dia De Los Muertos In Hell will reportedly include original music and participation by Latin American artists. That is a model that Audio Up has used in the past. In 2020, Audio Up produced the four-part music-heavy podcast Halloween In Hell working with alt-pop singer iann dior. In the new Spanish-language series, Audio Up will work with Latin American artists.