Goalhanger has announced the creators chosen for The Accelerator, its new incubator supporting digital talent in podcasting and media.
The initiative will see each selected creator receive up to £10,000 in production investment, as well as access to Goalhanger’s ad inventory across podcast, YouTube, newsletter and paid media channels to help grow their audiences.
The Accelerator treats creators as founders, providing funding, strategic support, mentorship and access to the editorial, production, commercial and audience-building expertise within Goalhanger’s network.
The programme helps creators build sustainable, long-term media businesses across entertainment, lifestyle, sport, politics, science and tech, and finance.
This year’s cohort includes satirist and writer Cody Dahler, who is developing The Thicky Thicky Dumb Dumb Search Engine, a new format using interviews and location shoots for deeper comic investigation.
Politics and history creator Tom Nicholas will use the investment to expand his production infrastructure for Slow News Days, a series focused on breaking news and political context.
Journalist and author Sophia Smith Galer will develop English: An Alternative History, a five-part series exploring the English language before empire.
Actress and comedy writer Andrea Valls plans to expand her comedy characters into a weekly episodic show.
Dr Eliza Filby, historian and author, will scale It’s All Relative, a guest-led format on generational shifts and social history.
Tolly ‘T’ Shoneye, founder of The Receipts Podcast, will create a 10-part mini-documentary about turning the podcast into a multi-platform content network.
The selection process was highly competitive, with hundreds of applications reviewed by a panel including Goalhanger leaders and external executives from companies such as Spotify, YouTube, Netflix and Amazon.
Judges spent nearly 100 hours assessing submissions based on vision, commercial viability, creative intent and expertise.
Jack Davenport, Co-Founder at Goalhanger, said: “Goalhanger has always been built around strong voices, loyal audiences and ideas with real momentum and that is exactly what we saw in this group.
“The Accelerator is not about handing over a cheque and sending people on their way, nor is it about forcing creators into a Goalhanger template.
“It is about giving them access to the experience, infrastructure and commercial support we have built, while protecting the thing that made audiences respond to them in the first place.”
Nicole Logan, Executive Producer – Development at Goalhanger, added: “What impressed us was how clearly these creators understand their own work. They know who they are speaking to, why people keep coming back, and where they want to take their ideas next.
“The Accelerator gives them time, structure and hands-on support to develop that properly: refining formats, building teams, testing new approaches and thinking more ambitiously about how their creative business can scale.”
The announcement follows the launch of Goalhanger Ventures, the company’s new investment and partnerships arm, which recently invested in Invisible Media and partnered with Backyard Cricket.
