GCO Director and Chairman of the Permanent Web Summit Organizing Committee H E Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al Thani with iHeart official at the signing ceremony.
Doha, Qatar: The Government Communications Office (GCO) and iHeartMedia, the leading global podcast network, have signed a multi-year partnership to create a thriving podcasting industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
This came on the sidelines of the Web Summit Qatar 2025, which continues at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) until today. The partnership aims to bring world-class podcasting infrastructure to Qatar, sparking a wave of creative storytelling across the MENA region and supporting the country’s ambition to become a global podcasting hub.
In a statement following the signing of the agreement, GCO Director and Chairman of the Permanent Web Summit Organizing Committee H E Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour bin Jabor Al Thani said, “this collaboration marks a significant step towards the development of the podcasting industry in the region while reinforcing Qatar’s position as a leading hub for digital content creation.”
“I am confident this platform will serve as a catalyst for creativity, inspire new storytelling formats, build a sustainable podcasting ecosystem and create opportunities for a new generation of content creators in the Arab world,” he added.
“Podcasting has exploded in the US and is now a mass-reach medium. And iHeartMedia, with our expansive network as the #1 podcaster in America, is in a unique position to grow strong listenership around the globe,” said CEO of iHeartMedia, Bob Pittman. Pittman added, “iHeartPodcasts features a massive catalog of original shows spanning every category and this new partnership creates an opportunity to work with a long roster of incredible creators and distribute even more content to new audiences in the Middle East.” Under the agreement, iHeart will develop a state-of-the-art podcast studio in Qatar, accompanied by a lineup of original shows and the introduction of some of the world’s most popular podcasts to Arabic-listening audiences. It will also execute specialized masterclasses to nurture local talent and host global industry events, including Web Summit gatherings, positioning Qatar as a meeting point for the world’s top podcasting voices.
The partnership was announced live from Web Summit Qatar’s main stage by Conal Byrne, Chief Executive Officer of the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group, which also featured some of iHeart’s top talents including Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author and co-founder of Pushkin Industries and host of “Revisionist History”; Jay Shetty, global best-selling author and award-winning host of the chart-topping global podcast “On Purpose”; David Eagleman, neuroscientist at Stanford University, internationally best-selling author and host of “Inner Cosmos”; and Jonathan Strickland, Executive Producer for iHeartPodcasts and host of “TechStuff.”
