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TikTok and iHeartMedia launch a massive partnership: filmed podcasts, national radio and creators at the heart of the system
TikTok and iHeartMedia have just announced a major multi-platform partnership. Together, the two companies will launch a complete ecosystem combining filmed podcasts, radio, video studios and live events. The agreement marks a strategic turning point: TikTok creators will become voices and storytellers at events, on radio and in podcasts.
The “TikTok Podcast Network”: 25 new podcasts filmed by creators
At the heart of the collaboration is the launch of the TikTok Podcast Network, which will bring together up to twenty-five new podcasts hosted by TikTok creators. The idea is to enable creators to build longer, more personal and more structured narrative formats.
To support this ambition, iHeartMedia will be opening three co-branded TikTok x iHeart studios in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta. These production spaces will offer a complete infrastructure for recording podcasts in professional conditions and producing their video versions. The extracts will then be optimised for TikTok, which will become the main launch pad and a powerful discovery engine for these new shows.
TikTok Radio: a new station in the iHeart bouquet
The agreement is not limited to podcasts: TikTok and iHeartMedia are also creating TikTok Radio, a national station broadcast on the iHeart network and the iHeartRadio application. The aim is to transpose the TikTok experience to radio, with a fast-paced, embodied format strongly inspired by trends culture.
TikTok Radio will bring together TikTok creators and presenters from the iHeart network. Programming will be based on emerging tracks on the app, but will add a radio-specific editorial layer: contextualisation, anecdotes, behind-the-scenes footage, a selection of new releases, emotional moments, and columns focusing on musical and cultural trends. It’s a clear attempt to create a radio that works like a TikTok feed… but in audio.
A collaboration that’s also making an appearance on the big live stages
TikTok will also play a strategic role in major iHeart events. The partnership includes a presence at key events such as the iHeartRadio Music Festival and the Jingle Ball tour. Creators will have privileged access to these events, and will be able to produce backstage content and take part in the editorial or branded features set up for these events. They had already launched a major casting session together in July 2025: “the next up: live”.
Why is TikTok speeding up on longer audio and video formats?
In the United States, YouTube has already become the number one platform for listening to podcasts. Spotify is investing massively in video, with broadcasts planned on Netflix. The dominant format for 2024-2026 is clear: the conversation filmed, broken down into short clips for promotional purposes and then rebroadcast in audio. With iHeartMedia, TikTok is giving itself the means to enter fully into this model.
What about TikTok Radio on SiriusXM?
Even before this partnership with iHeartMedia, TikTok already had a dedicated station on SiriusXM, also called TikTok Radio. To date, neither TikTok nor SiriusXM have announced any changes to this historic version of the station, which continues to appear in the schedule and publish editorial updates. So the new TikTok Radio launched with iHeartMedia is not officially replacing the existing channel: it’s adding to it. We’ll have to wait and see over the next few months whether TikTok chooses to keep two versions cohabiting, or whether one will end up absorbing the other as part of a more unified strategy.
TikTok and radio: a long love affair
By 2021 in Australia, TikTok and iHeart had jointly launched a TikTok digital radio station. In 2023 in France, NRJ launched a TikTok casting call to become a radio host. Their partnership continued with the NRJ Music Awards and the broadcasting of two TikTok digital radio stations on its app, but these seem to have disappeared from the app.
