EXCLUSIVE: A+E Global Media is teaming with Pave Studios to produce a slate of six podcasts based on popular unscripted series from A+E’s portfolio.
The First 48, a long-running true crime series on A&E, will get its first audio adaptation as part of the initiative. Also on the audio-only slate are History’s Greatest Mysteries, Modern Marvels, The UnBelievable, Celebrity Ghost Stories, and The UnXplained.
Pave’s true-crime shingle, Crime House, is producing The First 48, with the remainder being produced by Pave’s history-focused outfit Rewind. All six series are expected to launch on all major podcast platforms starting later this year.
Los Angeles-based Pave is a specialist in creator-led IP across video, audio, live experiences, and other areas. Along with Crime House and Rewind, the company operates OpenMind, whose portfolio includes video-and-audio series Khloé in Wonder Land with Khloé Kardashian.
“A+E has built some of the most iconic franchises in true crime and history, and this partnership lets us bring that proven IP into Crime House and Rewind,” Pave Studios founder and CEO Max Cutler said in a statement. “For longtime fans, it’s a new way into the stories they love; for a new generation, it’s the start of something bigger.”
The podcast business is continuing to grow, in part thanks to wider adoption of video podcasts. A forecast for 2026 by Deloitte projected a 20% year-on-year increase in ad revenue due to the injection of video proceeds from Netflix, Tubi and other newer platforms, with the global tally reaching $5 billion.
While it is expanding, podcasting is also shifting toward more established IP and talent, an evolution that helps explain the A+E and Pave partnership. As recent restructuring at Amazon’s audio divisions and moves at Spotify attest, there is an increased industrywide focus on celebrity hosts and more proven properties compared with previous phases of podcasting. It is less common today for little-known hosts and untested concepts to scale as quickly as they did when the consumer adoption curve was steeper.
Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.
Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.
Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );