Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger switches off the TV arm to focus on podcasts

Goalhanger, the podcast maker behind the series The Rest is History, is closing its television production operations to focus on audio content.

The media company has appointed a voluntary liquidator for Goalhanger Films, according to recent filings at Companies House.

It was founded in 2014 by football legend Gary Lineker and former ITV sports controller Tony Pastor and has produced several sports documentaries over the past decade.

This includes many programs for the BBC, such as The Premier League Show, Rooney: The Man Behind the Goals, Hand of God: 30 Years On, and Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health.

It is separate from Goalhanger Podcasts, which produces some of Britain’s most popular podcasts such as The Rest is Politics, both hosted by ex-Cabinet minister Rory Stewart and former Downing Street press secretary Alastair Campbell.

Pastor told entertainment website Deadline: ‘We effectively shut down Films and built a bespoke business focused on podcasts.

“There was a period where I was running them together, but the growth of podcasts has been so explosive and television is facing challenges, so we’ve done some housework now.”

According to Spotify’s latest rankings, Goalhanger produces four of the ten most listened to podcasts in the UK.

Second on the list is The Rest is History, whose presenters – Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland – have both written best-selling history books and are said to each earn almost £1million a year from the series.

The Rest is Politics is in third place, the US edition of that podcast is in eighth place and The Rest is Football, co-hosted by Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, is in tenth place.

Other programs produced by Goalhanger include the history-focused Empire, audio drama Sherlock & Co, and the World War II-themed We Have Ways of Making You Talk, hosted by James Holland and comedian Al Murray.

Many of these podcasts employ a revenue-sharing model, with Goalhanger and the hosts each earning a third of the profits they generate.

In addition to online broadcasting, they can make significant amounts of money hosting shows in front of a live audience.

Holland and Sandbrook gave a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in October, discussing the lives of composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, accompanied by a full orchestra.

Last month, Campbell and Stewart also presented a live episode of The Rest is Politics at London’s O2 Arena to an estimated 15,000 people.