A maker of health education podcasts—including installments sponsored by major biopharma and medtech players—is adding a subscription model to power future development of even more audio content.
Mission Based Media debuted the new listener subscription service on Friday. Called Health Unmuted Plus, it’ll not only give subscribers full, ad-free access to the company’s entire library of existing Health Unmuted podcasts, but it’ll also offer them early access to new additions to the compendium.
The Health Unmuted library already includes several multi-part audio series exploring Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Type 2 diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. One of the most recent, “Rethinking Alzheimer’s Disease,” was sponsored by Leqembi co-developer Eisai. Meanwhile, another pair of Alzheimer’s- and Parkinson’s-focused series were both sponsored by Altoida, which is developing an augmented reality- and artificial intelligence-based approach to predicting the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Fully-sponsored series like the Eisai-backed show are available ad-free to all listeners—not just Health Unmuted Plus subscribers—and that type of corporate support will remain key to Mission Based Media’s work, according to CEO Dan Kendall.
“Sponsorship and advertising revenue from commercial, non-profit, and other organizations will continue to play an important role as we create authentic content about health topics and deepen understanding,” Kendall said in Friday’s announcement.
The newly added subscription revenue, meanwhile, represents the company’s “aim to diversify our revenue streams, support the creation of high-quality health content, and amplify the voices and experiences of patients and caregivers,” the CEO said.
Health Unmuted Plus is currently only available through Apple Podcasts but will expand to other podcast listening services in August, per Mission Based Media.
Upcoming series currently on tap include explorations of acid reflux, atrial fibrillation, migraine, stroke and several types of cancer, including breast, colon, lung, skin and prostate, among several other planned installments. So far, only a pair of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes-focused series have sponsors listed, both with the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists named as a community partner.