Sponsored by Qantas, the Guardian is launching ‘Ashes Weekly’ — a brand new special edition podcast to deepen Guardian Sport’s commitment to covering the 2025/26 Test series.
Cricket’s most famous Test series, the Ashes, gets underway on Friday 21 November. The Guardian is covering every aspect of the action with a major multimedia package spanning audio, video, newsletters, digital and print. The Guardian’s Ashes coverage is exclusively sponsored by Qantas, who will hold 100% share of voice across all formats.
The Guardian’s trusted platform is the perfect place for Qantas to build on its long-standing alignment with Cricket Australia, driving awareness and consideration among the Guardian’s highly engaged audience of cricket fans. 70% of Guardian podcast listeners plan to spend on holidays or travel in the next year — a natural fit for a brand made for explorers.
At the heart of the Guardian’s coverage is ‘Ashes Weekly’, co-hosted by Guardian broadcasters, Englishman Max Rushden (host of the Guardian’s ‘Football Weekly’) and Australian Geoff Lemon (host of ‘The Final Word’), cricket fans worldwide can tune in for lively debate, laughs, expert analysis and irreverent cricket chat for the duration of the tournament.
Recorded on the ground at the Test series in Australia, a new episode of Ashes Weekly will be released before and after every Test match every over the next eight weeks. Available in both video and audio formats, the show will feature expert Guardian cricket journalists from the UK and Australia — including Barney Ronay, Ali Martin, Emma John, Simon Burnton, and special guests.
The first official episode will be available on Thursday 20 November. Listeners can hear the pilot episode now.
With a large team of cricket experts, the Guardian has long set the standard in Ashes coverage. Alongside Ashes Weekly audiences can also enjoy:
- The Guardian’s weekly cricket newsletter, ‘The Spin’, dedicated to the test series over the next eight weeks
- A special interactive online feature counts down the 100 greatest Ashes players, voted for by more than 50 judges, including leading players and Guardian cricket journalists
- Live blogs during each test match, offering expert commentary from Rob Smyth, Taha Hashim, Tanya Aldred, James Wallace, Tim de Lisle and more.
Imogen Fox, global chief advertising officer, Guardian Media Group, says: “The Guardian has been brilliant at telling the story of cricket with depth and passion for generations — it’s a sport we know and love.
“Partnering with Qantas on this multi-channel Ashes campaign has allowed us to take this love even deeper. This collaboration is a perfect example of how we can combine the creativity and heritage of Guardian sports journalism with a brand that shares our love of the game, bringing them right to the heart of it.”
