Amazon’s audio service Audible has teamed up with Nickelodeon for the first time to launch the new Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Official Podcast. 

The six x 15- to 20-minute Audible Original launches September 28 exclusively on the subscription-based platform. Nickelodeon and Paramount Audio are producing the podcast, which tells a series of different scary stories, including one about an evil toy and another about an abandoned factory that is home to an eerie urban legend. It targets older kids and families.  

Audible has been tuning into more kids content lately, signing partnerships this year with major kids companies including Hasbro (to develop the first-ever Peppa Pig podcast), KIDZ BOP and Moonbug Entertainment. The service, which boasts more than 800,000 titles, is adding another big name in kids TV to its lineup of younger-skewing content with this Nickelodeon deal. 

Are You Afraid of the Dark? started off in the ’90s as a live-action TV series that Nickelodeon revived in 2019 with a miniseries that ran for three seasons. Both spooky shows center around a group of teens who get together to tell each other scary stories. 

“We always thought the Are You Afraid of the Dark? universe would be perfectly suited to the audio medium, and dreamed of how an AYAOTD audio thriller could fuel the fire of kids’ imaginations in the presence of ghost stories,” says Lynn Kestin-Sessler, senior creative director of Nickelodeon Podcasts. “When Nickelodeon gave us the chance, we jumped at it, striking a classic Nick balance between kid-appropriate horror, thrills and entertainment.” 

Nickelodeon has been investing in podcasts for several of its biggest brands over the past few years. In 2021, the kidcaster teamed up with iHeartRadio for a slate of titles based on Avatar: The Last Airbender and SpongeBob SquarePants. And the company also previously made podcasts based on The Loud House and Blue’s Clues. 

“This new audio thriller is just the beginning; we have so much more Nickelodeon fun planned in the months to come,” says Kestin-Sessler.