OBB Sound and Audible Strike Multi-Project Original Production Deal
OBB Sound, the podcast and audio division of Michael D. Ratner’s OBB Media and the team behind the highly successful Audible Original podcast The Pursuit of Healthiness with Blake Griffin, has signed a multi-project, non-exclusive two-year deal with Audible. OBB Sound has become the newest big-name addition to Audible’s line up of impressive content creators. The collection of audio series from OBB Sound produced for Audible will include star-studded unscripted hosted projects, narrative docu-series, and scripted fiction primarily aimed at Millennial and Gen Z audiences.
Following a successful first season of Pursuit of Healthiness with Blake Griffin, the highly anticipated second season will premiere March 25, 2021 exclusively within the Audible Plus catalog, and will return with a new list of notable guests such as: NBA superstar Kevin Durant, actress and mogul Jessica Alba, podcast host and recovery expert Dax Shepard, NFL star Tony Gonzalez, Stanford bias expert Jennifer Ebherhardt, relationship expert Shadeen Francis, New York Times reporter Kate Murphy, comedian Neal Brennan, and five-time New York Times bestseller and co-founder of Pushkin Industries, Malcolm Gladwell, and more. The Blake Griffin led series immediately broke into the top five nonfiction audio series listened to on Audible across the U.S.
Additionally, The Glowing, a new 10-part scripted audio series, which is said to have been in the works for the better part of a year, will begin production in 2021. The Glowing is part survival tale and part possession horror which chronicles the story of a young woman undergoing a clinical trial cancer treatment who begins hearing a voice in her head that takes her from her home in the U.S. to a mystery buried deep within the ruins of Chernobyl. The Glowing is written by Jason Zumwalt (Angel of Vine, The Ranch), who developed the series with OBB’s Elias Tanner. The series is executive produced by OBB President and CEO Michael D. Ratner, Scott Ratner, and Tanner; Zumwalt will executive produce and direct.
When we launched OBB Sound, it was with the collective vision as storytellers to create unmissable audio content alongside our great collaborators. I can think of no better collaborator than Audible, the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, to distribute our podcasts and series. We are also excited about the endless potential synergies between our growing audio IP and our TV and film businesses as we see our podcasts as a go-to source for adaptation inspiration—whether an unknown character study, a scripted sci-fi epic or an A-list driven format, we are looking forward to sharing these powerful projects with our audiences globally.
“OBB has a strong team of storytellers whose series and vision span genres, as proven through their work on our successful first hit together, Pursuit of Healthiness with Blake Griffin, and their forthcoming horror thriller, The Glowing. We’re excited to see what we can develop and create with them,” said Rachel Ghiazza, Audible’s EVP, Head of US Content.
This deal joins many recent production and development deals Audible has signed with high-level producing and creative talent including LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The SpringHill Company, Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God and their respective production companies Hart Beat Productions and CTHAGOD World Productions, and Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton’s Unanimous Media.
OBB Sound launched in 2019 as a major division when the company rebranded as OBB Media. The company now has divisions across film/TV/digital, audio, branded, and social good. OBB Sound produced many successful projects including multiple seasons of Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham, the recently launched chart-topping Too Long; Didn’t Watch with co-producer Rolling Stone chief TV critic Alan Sepinwall hosting, and Country Shine with Graham Bunn, the home of country music talk on Spotify. Additional series will be announced in the coming months. As a company with strong roots in TV/digital & film under its OBB Pictures division, OBB will leave the door open to explore further iterations of projects produced and IP created under this deal beyond the audio format.
Ratner, who executive produced The Pursuit of Healthiness will continue to executive produce all projects across the OBB Sound slate, alongside Co-Founder & COO Scott Ratner, and Development & Strategy Exec Elias Tanner, who also serves as Head of OBB Sound. Grace Delia will produce on behalf of OBB Sound.
OBB has stayed busy during the pandemic; it was recently announced that Ratner would be directing and executive producing the four part docuseries Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, which was recently announced as the headlining opening night film at SXSW 2021. The company recently released Justin Bieber: Next Chapter, the follow up to Justin Bieber: Seasons, the breakout hit YouTube Original docuseries, which broke the record for the most viewed premiere to ever hit the platform, with over 32.5M views in the first week alone (Nearly 70M to date), both of which were also directed by Ratner. OBB also released two iterations of the Kevin Hart led hit interview series Cold As Balls during the pandemic, including Cold As Balls: Cold Calls, which saw Hart interview athletes remotely via Zoom from their homes across the country, as well as the recently released fourth season that has seen the show shift to an all-new format with a socially distant outdoor set. Cold as Balls has amassed over 1.6 billion views to date.
The deal for Ratner and OBB Sound was negotiated by UTA, where Ratner and the company are repped, as well as 3 Arts Entertainment, and Morris Yorn.
ABOUT OBB MEDIA
Founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and filmmaker Michael D. Ratner, OBB Media is the parent company to OBB Pictures, OBB Sound, OBB Branded, and OBB Cares. The multimedia production company specializes in TV, digital, film, podcasts, branded content, and social good, and has amassed nearly 2 billion views. Ratner, alongside co-founder Scott Ratner and a team of talented storytellers, create scripted and unscripted projects for a variety of distributors. The company has become well known for TV and film such as Justin Bieber: Seasons which broke the record for the most viewed YouTube original series premiere with 32.5 million views in the first week alone, the follow up special documentary event Justin Bieber: Next Chapter, the upcoming Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil docuseries for YouTube Originals which is the opening night headlining film of SXSW 2021, Netflix’s Historical Roasts, Kevin Hart’s Cold As Balls, and an ESPN 30 for 30: “Gonzo @ the Derby”. OBB Sound produces podcasts including Audible's The Pursuit of Healthiness with Blake Griffin, which is currently in its second season, Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham, currently in its third season, Too Long; Didn’t Watch with Rolling Stone, and many more. OBB Branded has created campaigns for brands including Pepsi, Old Spice, Airbnb, and Lexus, amongst others. Finally, OBB Cares is the company’s charitable initiative seeking to use its unique resources to impact positive change in the surrounding community. The Emmy award winning full-service production company has its offices, post-production facilities, and state of the art podcast studios headquartered in West Hollywood, California. For more information, please visit the company’s official site: http://obbmedia.com
