PodcastOne (NASDAQ: PODC) Launches Varnamtown to Top of Apple Rankings

Limited Series Hosted by Golden Globe Award Winning Actor Kyle MacLachlan and Investigative Journalist Joshua Davis, Produced by Academy Award Winning Patrick Wachsberger

Ranking as High as #5 on Apple Varnamtown Tells Stranger Than Fiction Story of Pablo Escobar’s Purported Drug Deal with a North Carolina Coastal Fishing Village

Varnamtown Is the 4th Podcast with Derivative IP Rights to Debut on PodcastOne this Fiscal Year

LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb. 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire – PodcastOne (NASDAQ: PODC), a leading podcast platform and a subsidiary of LiveOne (NASDAQ: LVO), which owns ~80% of the PODC outstanding common stock, announced today that its podcast Varnamtown, hosted by award winning actor Kyle MacLachlan and investigative journalist Joshua Davis has soared to the top of Apple podcast charts, ranking 5th overall for new podcasts, top 10 in the highly competitive True Crime category and ranking as high as top 25 across all podcasts available for download on Apple. With three episodes currently available for download, new installments are available weekly on Wednesdays.

MacLachlan (Sex and the City, Twin Peaks) and Davis bring to life Varnamtown. A limited 8-episode podcast that tells the little known story of a small fishing village in North Carolina that reputedly did a deal with drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. In exchange for allowing Escobar's drug motherships to dock and his airplanes to land, the town would become rich. For two years, MacLachlan and Davis investigated the tale, journeying to Varnamtown to knock on doors and find out what really happens when a firehose of money and cocaine is turned on a small, tight knit community. Varnamtown is produced by Epic Magazine, Picture Perfect Federation and Full Picture.

“PodcastOne is thrilled to congratulate Kyle, Josh and the entire production team behind Varnamtown. Their dedication to telling this delightfully quirky tale of misdeeds and greed in smalltown America is resulting in much deserved attention for the show from audiences, media and advertisers. The strength of Varnamtown furthers our momentum in developing original IP for television and film production,” said Kit Gray, President and Co-Founder of PodcastOne.

Varnamtown is the first podcast series resulting from a previously announced development deal between PodcastOne and Picture Perfect Federation (“PPF”). PPF is a joint venture formed by entertainment industry leader and Academy Award Winning Patrick Wachsberger's Picture Perfect Entertainment and Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan of studio Federation Studios and led in the US by Patrick Wachsberger and Ashley Stern, President of Federation Entertainment of America.

PodcastOne’s full roster of top ranked podcasts includes programming across top genres such as news, comedy, true crime and society and culture, including shows such as Bad Bad Thing, True Crime All The Time Unsolved, The Prosecutors, Court Junkie, Cold Case Files, I Survived, Baby Mamas No Drama, The Adam Carolla Show, and The Schaub Show. PodcastOne shows are available through PodcastOne, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon and wherever podcasts are heard.

About PodcastOne
PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC) is a Los Angeles based podcast network founded in 2012 by Kit Gray and Norm Pattiz providing creators and advertisers with a full 360-degree solution in sales, marketing, public relations, production, and distribution delivering over 2.1 billion downloads per year with a community of 250 of the top podcasters, including Adam Carolla, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Jordan Harbinger, LadyGang, and A&E's Cold Case Files. PodcastOne has built a distribution network reaching over 1 billion listeners a month across all of its own properties, LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO), Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Samsung and over 150 shows exclusively available in Tesla vehicles. PodcastOne is also the parent company of LaunchpadOne, an innovative self-serve platform developed to launch, host, distribute and monetize independent user-generated podcasts. For more information, visit PodcastOne.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter at @podcastone.

About LiveOne, Inc.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO) is an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment, and technology platform focused on delivering premium experiences and content worldwide through memberships and live and virtual events. The Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries include Slacker Radio, PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC), PPVOne, Gramophone Media, Palm Beach Records, CPS, LiveXLive, Drumify and Splitmind. LiveOne is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Spotify, Samsung, Amazon Fire, Android TV, and through STIRR’s OTT applications. For more information, visit liveone.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter at @liveone.

Forward-Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements,” which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as “may,” “might,” “will,” “will likely result,” “would,” “should,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “continue,” “target” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including: LiveOne’s reliance on one key customer for a substantial percentage of its revenue; LiveOne’s and PodcastOne’s ability to consummate any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, special dividend, merger, distribution or transaction, the timing of the consummation of any such proposed event, including the risks that a condition to the consummation of any such event would not be satisfied within the expected timeframe or at all, or that the consummation of any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, merger, special dividend, distribution or transaction will not occur or whether any such event will enhance shareholder value; PodcastOne’s ability to continue as a going concern; PodcastOne’s ability to attract, maintain and increase the number of its listeners; PodcastOne identifying, acquiring, securing and developing content; LiveOne’s intent to repurchase shares of its and/or PodcastOne’s common stock from time to time under LiveOne’s announced stock repurchase program and the timing, price, and quantity of repurchases, if any, under the program; PodcastOne’s ability to maintain compliance with certain financial and other covenants; PodcastOne successfully implementing its growth strategy, including relating to its technology platforms and applications; management’s relationships with industry stakeholders; uncertain and unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings; changes in economic conditions; competition; risks and uncertainties applicable to the businesses of PodcastOne’s subsidiaries; and other risks, uncertainties and factors including, but not limited to, those described in PodcastOne’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on June 29, 2023, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter year ended September 30, 2023, filed with the SEC on November 20, 2023, and in PodcastOne’s other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and PodcastOne disclaims any obligation to update these statements, except as may be required by law. PodcastOne intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

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