Global, the commercial radio and podcast group behind LBC, has launched Global Plus podcast subscriptions for six more of its shows, letting fans pay for ad-free episodes and, on some shows, extra content. The expansion, announced on 26 October 2026, brings in the James O’Brien shows, The Crime Agents, The Sports Agents, My Therapist Ghosted Me, The Wittering Whitehalls and Vogue & Amber, all available on Global Player and YouTube.
What Global Plus podcast subscriptions include
According to Global’s announcement, the subscriptions come in two tiers. Ad-free listening starts at £2.99 a month or £29.99 a year. A higher tier, combining ad-free episodes with exclusive material, starts at £4.99 a month or £49.99 a year.
The most detailed package is for the LBC presenter James O’Brien. A single subscription removes adverts from four of his shows: Full Disclosure with James O’Brien, James O’Brien Daily, James O’Brien – The Whole Show and James O’Brien’s Mystery Hour. Subscribers also get two new series: Ask James Anything, a weekly programme answering listeners’ questions, and James Reacts, which revisits memorable moments from his LBC programmes. O’Brien will also write two newsletters a month for members.
The Crime Agents, Global’s true crime show, will add a monthly in-depth episode on major criminal cases for subscribers. Global said the first would examine the Lucy Letby case. The company did not give details of extra content for the other four new shows beyond ad-free access.
The six join two podcasts already on Plus: LBC’s Nick Abbot – The Whole Show and Up To Speed, a Formula 1 podcast.
What Global’s executives said
Simon Pitts, Global’s group chief executive, said the move was about giving audiences more choice over how they enjoy the company’s presenters and shows. He indicated that more podcasts would follow. According to RadioToday, he said “this is just the beginning” and promised further chart-topping titles soon.
Craig Hunter, managing director of Global Studios, framed the subscriptions as a way to deepen fans’ connection with the shows. “The best podcasts make listeners feel part of the conversation,” he said in the company’s release, adding that members would get more analysis, question-and-answer sessions and behind-the-scenes material.
Part of a wider push into paid audio
The podcast expansion builds on Radio Plus, which Global launched in September. That service removes adverts from Global’s music radio brands and fills the breaks with more music. Taken together, the moves show one of Britain’s biggest commercial audio companies testing whether listeners will pay directly, rather than relying only on advertising.
Global is not alone. Sky News launched its own podcast subscription, Sky News Insider: Podcasts, in June 2026 at £2.99 a month, offering bonus episodes, ad-free listening and early access across shows such as Electoral Dysfunction. Spotify, meanwhile, pays eligible creators in the UK through its Partner Program, partly based on how Premium subscribers engage with video podcasts.
Why it matters
Advertising still pays most of the bills in UK podcasting. IAB UK put podcast ad spend at £90 million in 2024, with growth slowing to 8% that year. Subscriptions offer publishers a second, steadier income stream and a closer relationship with their most loyal listeners.
There is some evidence that this can work. On 27 October, PodcastingToday reported research from the US subscription platform Supporting Cast, based on data from six publishers, showing that members who used their podcast benefits cancelled at an average of 1.3% a month, against 3% for those who never listened. The company cautioned that the figures do not prove listening itself keeps people subscribed, because more committed fans may simply be more likely to listen.
For listeners, the paid tiers are pitched as an upgrade: no adverts, plus extra time with a favourite presenter on some shows. The key test for Global will be how many of its large free audiences convert, and whether the extra content is strong enough to keep them paying once the novelty wears off.
Sources: Global via Podnews, Global expands Plus offering with six new podcast subscriptions (26 October 2026); RadioToday, Global adds six podcast subscriptions to Plus offering (26 October 2026); PodcastingToday, Global adds six podcasts to Plus subscriptions (26 October 2026); Advanced Television, Global expands Plus offering with new podcast subscriptions (26 October 2026); Spotify, The Spotify Partner Program is here (2 January 2025); Sky News via Podnews, Sky News Insider: Podcasts (18 May 2026); IAB UK via Podnews, IAB UK: podcast ad market grows 8% in the UK (29 April 2025); PodcastingToday, Podcasts could play a significant role in subscriber retention (27 October 2026).
