Irish Mirror Sport has launched its first podcast offering:  ‘The Back Page’, a weekly betting podcast backed by Ladbrokes.

Hosted by Shane Stapleton, each week a panel of experts including Irish Mirror’s Chief Sports Writer Michael Scully and top tipsters from Ladbrokes, give their opinions on the latest and biggest sporting events and offer listeners their tips on the best bets of the week.

Now over twenty episodes into the podcast series, the panel has been joined by a whole host of sporting names including All-Ireland winner Bernard Flynn and top jockey Sean Flynn.

The long-term sponsorship deal, which was brokered by Starcom, includes press, digital and social promotion of each episode across the Mirror Sport network, reaching a sports fan base of 1.6 million readers last month (source: Google Analytics, March 2018). A branded content hub within Irish Mirror Sport online houses all the episodes which are also available on iTunes, Spotify and Audioboom.

Neal Plunkett, Head of Marketing at Ladbrokes said: “From the beginning, the proposal presented to me was both cost-effective as well as wide-reaching in terms of demographic targeting.  The Irish Mirror team have been great to deal with, making this a very easy ongoing process for Ladbrokes.  Most of all, KPI’s are being exceeded every week so we’re extremely happy with the venture.”

Alan Curley, Head of Digital at Mirror Media added: “We were delighted to collaborate with Ladbrokes and Starcom for the launch of The Back Page. Adding new products to our portfolio is a major focus for us in 2018 so to co-create this podcast with a brand such as Ladbrokes has been a major boost.

“Seeing the show grow from strength to strength, week by week, has been hugely encouraging and we’re excited to continue the journey into the World Cup and GAA season.”