EXCLUSIVE: Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has teamed with iHeartPodcasts to launch The Bright Side, a daily podcast co-hosted by journalist and TV host Danielle Robay and Emmy-nominated news and entertainment broadcaster Simone Boyce.
Witherspoon will serve as executive producer on the pod alongside Maureen Polo and Natalie Tulloch for Hello Sunshine and Ali Perry and Conal Byrne for iHeartPodcasts.
Debuting on March 25, the two companies said Robay and Boyce will deliver a 30-minute “daily morning show-style podcast” aimed at creating a community of listeners through a “daily dose of entertainment, culture, wellness, fashion, and books.”
“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 Maureen Polo, Head of Direct-to-Consumer at Hello Sunshine. “Podcasting offers a level of thoughtful engagement you can’t get in other media types, which is why it is such a perfect medium to launch ‘The Bright Side.’ 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 given its unmatched production, marketing, and sales acumen at a level few others in media can deliver.”
The Bright Side will be distributed by iHeartPodcasts through the iHeartRadio app.
Will Pearson, President of iHeartPodcasts added: “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. 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.”