Reese Witherspoon stars in the television series “Morning Show” and now she is getting behind a real-life morning series, but the Hollywood A-lister is doing it on a podcast. Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine is launching a new daily podcast series called The Bright Side in a partnership with iHeartPodcasts.
Witherspoon will serve as executive producer on the podcast, with TV host and podcaster Danielle Robay, and journalist, host, and producer Simone Boyce in front of the mics when The Bright Side launches on March 25.
“We have been tracking the exploding podcast medium for a while – seeing new audiences, formats, and genres every day – and know that iHeartPodcasts is the best partner,” said Maureen Polo, Head of Direct-to-Consumer at Hello Sunshine in the joint announcement.
The daily morning show-style podcast is targeting women head-on with content that it says will be designed to inspire, educate, and empower listeners as they tackle life each day. The podcast will cover everything from pop culture to wellness, lifestyle, and beyond, and feature a daily dose of topics including entertainment, culture, wellness, fashion, and books. Above all, the companies say that The Bright Side aims to offer a “funny, approachable and intimate forum that will tackle life with optimism” while exploring the world through a female-centered lens.
“We have found that our audience makes it a point to seek out positivity in their personal and digital lives with 59% of female consumers agreeing that they want content that makes them feel joyful,” said Polo. “Podcasting offers a level of thoughtful engagement you can’t really get in other media types, which is why it is such a perfect medium to launch The Bright Side.”
Robay is the host of E! News’ “While You Were Streaming” and she is also the host of the women-focused weekly Pretty Smart podcast. Robay was previously a morning TV host in Chicago. Boyce is also a veteran of television. She currently hosts the “Roku Recommends” features, and she earlier was a correspondent for NBC News and “Access Hollywood.”
“Hello Sunshine is the perfect partner for this ambitious project, given their incredible sense of cultural issues and trends, and their astute, highly engaged fanbase,” said Will Pearson, President of iHeartPodcasts. “Podcasting has managed to reinvent a few genres now – from fiction to sports to health and wellness – and we believe it can also innovate on this idea of a daily “morning show,” a format that is prevalent in TV but is still missing in the podcast medium. With Reese and her team at the creative helm, we are excited to launch this show together.”
Each episode of The Bright Side will last about a half hour. In addition to Witherspoon, Polo and Hello Sunshine VP of Audio Natalie Tulloch will be Executive Producers of the show, along with Ali Perry and Conal Byrne for iHeartPodcasts.
Founded by Witherspoon, Hello Sunshine is part of Candle Media. It previously worked with iHeart on the companion podcast for the “Little Fires Everywhere” TV series on Hulu.
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