Global’s investment in The Overlap shows how a radio company can use production, advertising and distribution infrastructure to move a creator-led video podcast from YouTube into premium streaming—without giving up its open audience.
British radio group Global is turning a creator-led sports podcast business into premium streaming inventory while keeping the free distribution that built the audience in the first place.
Global acquired a majority stake in The Overlap in January 2026. The company said the sports-media group was generating about 38 million YouTube views a month and had accumulated 2.2 billion views during 2025 across programs and social clips.
Now the business is moving into Disney+.
The Guardian reported on August 13 that Disney had secured a multi-million-pound agreement covering 40 episodes of Stick to Football and 50 episodes of the new Stick to United. The standard episodes will continue to appear on YouTube. Six additional Stick to Football programs are expected to receive a limited period of Disney+ exclusivity before becoming available on YouTube.
That structure is the story. This is not a simple migration from a free platform to a paywall. It is a windowing strategy.
Keep the open audience; sell premium access around it
YouTube provides discovery, sharing and scale. Disney+ provides subscription context, promotion and a premium viewing environment. The temporary exclusives give Disney something distinctive without permanently removing the shows from the platform where fans already expect to find them.
The reported agreement also leaves The Overlap with its intellectual property. That matters because the most valuable asset is not one season of episodes. It is the underlying format, audience relationship, talent chemistry, production system and library.
Global brings more than cash to that package. Its Global Studios unit can expand production and distribution. Its DAX advertising platform can sell audio and digital inventory. Its radio stations can promote programs and talent. The Overlap contributes recognizable hosts, a video-native audience and formats already proven in the market.
The combined business can sell the same franchise several ways: advertising in the free program, subscription value for a streaming partner, clips for social distribution, live events, sponsorships, licensing and audio versions.
Why this matters to broadcasters
Radio companies often describe podcasts as extensions of the on-air schedule. The Global model reverses that thinking. A program can begin as a creator-led video property and then use a broadcaster’s sales, production and promotional infrastructure to become a larger entertainment franchise.
That is a more ambitious role than simply placing cameras in a radio studio.
The key questions for any operator are ownership and repeatability. Who owns the show name? Who controls the archive? Can the format travel to a second market, a live event or a television platform? Does the talent relationship survive if one distributor changes strategy?
Global’s majority stake gives it meaningful participation in the upside. The Overlap’s retained intellectual property preserves the creator business. Disney receives premium sports programming with an established audience. YouTube continues to receive the regular episodes that sustain discovery.
The Radio News Now takeaway
Independent broadcasters are unlikely to reproduce a multi-million-pound Disney deal immediately. They can copy the architecture:
- Build one strong video-first format around credible, repeatable talent chemistry.
- Keep a dependable free version available for audience growth.
- Create limited premium windows, specials or live events for paying partners.
- Preserve ownership of the program name, archive and derivative rights whenever possible.
- Sell the franchise across audio, video, newsletters, events and sponsorship—not as isolated inventory.
Global is not abandoning radio. It is using a radio company’s infrastructure to become a rights owner, studio, sales house and distributor across several screens.
Sources: Global’s January 2026 acquisition announcement and The Guardian’s August 13 reporting. The Disney+ deal terms remain attributed to The Guardian; a public Disney or Global contract announcement was not available when this article was prepared.