Peter Crouch is the latest BBC presenter to ditch the ailing Corporation after moving his podcast to an app.
The retired footballer has moved That Peter Crouch Podcast from Radio 5Live to Acast after over three years at the station.
The former England striker, 41, was lured to the Swedish-founded firm for an undisclosed sum.
It comes amid a mass exodus of top talent at the BBC, with Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel leaving for Global only last month and Andrew Marr heading off last year.
The retired footballer has moved That Peter Crouch Podcast from Radio 5Live to Acast after over three years at the station
The former England striker, 41, moved to the Swedish-founded firm for an undisclosed sum
BBC veterans and good friends Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel (pictured) are leaving the corporation to join Global, owners of LBC, where they will front a show and a podcast together
Pictured: Andrew Marr will be presenting new radio shows on LBC and Classic FM in 2022
Crouch said: ‘Joining Acast is just like signing for one of the world’s biggest football clubs.
‘We get all the support to develop as much as possible, while we also get the chance to reach an even larger, global audience.’
Acast claimed Crouch’s football programme was the largest sports podcast at the BBC, with 60million listens.
It was the fourth most popular one on BBC Sounds last year and remained popular with young listeners.
They were said to be encouraged by his footballing tales as well as hearing blockbuster guests such as Prince William having a curry.
It is not clear if Crouch will take along his team – notably co-hosts Tom Fordyce and Chris Stark – to Acast as they were not mentioned in a press release for the show.
Sources told the Times it has ‘opened Pandora’s box’ to other podcasts being nabbed by rival firms.
Acast plans to keep sending That Peter Crouch Podcast out to other platforms but will bring in adverts for the first time.
The firm’s subscription service – Acast+, will also see new exclusive content come from the show.
Crouch has joined Sopel and Maitlis as well as former BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Shaun Keaveny in leaving the BBC.
The former bosses of Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel are understood to have found out just hours before media group Global announced the deal on February 22.
The pair are now set to land a huge cash boost. Outgoing North America editor Mr Sopel is thought to have nearly doubled his BBC pay of up to £234,999.
Newsnight presenter Miss Maitlis is believed to have got a pay rise from her salary band of up to £329,999. One source described the deal as an ‘irresistible package’.
Global poached another of the corporation’s top news stars, Andrew Marr, in November.
He quit the BBC after 21 years to front shows on LBC and Classic FM, and is thought to have significantly increased his pay of up to £339,999 in that move.
Recent departures have sparked talk of a ‘brain drain’ and ‘exodus’ at the corporation’s news division.
BBC insiders said they believed Miss Maitlis – who has been at the corporation since 2001 – quit in part because she was ‘frustrated’ at being ‘ticked-off’ over impartiality.
Emily Maitlis’ departure came days after her 2020 interview with Prince Andrew contributed to his decision settle a claim against him in a US court by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
She was at the centre of a row in 2020 when the BBC decided she had breached rules in a monologue about Dominic Cummings’s trip to Durham during lockdown.
In June, she was reprimanded for sharing a Twitter post by Piers Morgan about the pandemic that the corporation said was ‘clearly controversial’.
A senior source said the pair’s defection was ‘extraordinary’ particularly as Mr Sopel was the ‘clear front-runner’ to replace Laura Kuenssberg as political editor.
The role is seen as the most high-profile reporting job in British TV. Mr Sopel has been at the BBC for nearly 40 years and recently moved back from the US to the UK.
He and Miss Maitlis are good friends and have co-hosted the popular BBC podcast Americast. Details of their new podcast will be announced later in the year.
Global last month said the pair will also provide ‘commentary and analysis’ for LBC’s website. The announcement sent shockwaves through the BBC’s news division.
One source said: ‘You might say it’s not that much fun any more at the BBC at that level and you might say there are lots of things going on outside, particularly at LBC.’
A senior BBC News insider said: ‘I think… Emily Maitlis wants to have a freer hand and I think that Global will give her that.’
