Adds background on Red Seat Ventures, details about the rise of podcasts in pargraphs 4-10

By Dawn Chmielewski

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Fox Corp FOXA.O said on Monday it has purchased Red Seat Ventures, the digital media company whose clients include former Fox News stars Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson, in a bid to tap younger audiences and the growing podcast market.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal represents an investment in a new area of media, the so-called creator economy, in which individual personalities such as Carlson, Kelly, Shawn Ryan and Candace Owens reach millions of subscribers via podcasts and streaming shows.

While Fox News remains the highest-rated cable news network, the 2024 election cycle revealed that some audiences preferred to get their information from podcasts. President Donald Trump's appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" in October was credited with helping him reach an audience of mostly young male voters.

Valerie Wirtschafter, a senior data analyst in the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said podcasts, particularly conservative podcasts, have risen in popularity in a decentralized media landscape.

"Podcast hosts are extremely trusted. They’re sort of like friends," she said. "They're more intimate. They’re inside your head."

Red Seat Ventures - named for the red seat in Boston's Fenway Park that marked the park's longest home run - provides a range of services for talent, from billing and payroll to production support. Its client list includes former New York Times journalist Bari Weiss, former HLN host Nancy Grace, true-crime podcaster Chris Hansen, television personality Dr. Phil and former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

The deal brings O'Reilly, Kelly and Carlson back in the Murdoch fold, though Red Seat Ventures will operate independently within Fox's Tubi Media Group, which operates a free video streaming service. The former Fox talent will not be employed by Fox.

"We see tremendous opportunities to drive additional scale in genres such as sports, news and entertainment," Tubi Media Group CEO Paul Cheesbrough said in a statement.

This is not the first such deal for Fox. In 2021, it acquired Outkick, a right-leaning sports and political commentary website and podcast founded by Clay Travis.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles, additional reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Will Dunham)

((Kritika.Lamba@thomsonreuters.com;))