Podcasting’s fallout continues
The pain is not over yet for the podcast industry, with layoffs and cancellations continuing to pile up. Amrita covered the WNYC layoffs yesterday, which, thanks to negotiations between management and the union, were not as steep as initially expected (6 percent laid off versus 12 percent previously announced). Last week, Pushkin laid off another 30 percent of staff in its third round of cuts this year, with shakeups even targeting its C-suite. And live audio took another hit on Wednesday, with Amazon shutting down Amp.
I have been talking to people from the business side of podcasting about how the ad market has changed and why it is hitting podcasts so hard, especially when the economy seems to actually be doing… fine? As I wrote about at the end of 2022, the ad market is really susceptible to uncertainty, and while layoffs have been mainly avoided in much of the economy, companies often cut marketing budgets before cutting jobs. But that trickles down and manifests as job cuts in ad-dependent industries like media. And podcast companies in particular, after riding a wave of growth and excitement, are facing additional pressure from ad agencies to deliver on their targets.
I’ll have more on that soon, but also, feel free to email me your own questions about what is going on with the ad market. What do you want to know? Or, what do you think I and people in the industry should know? Hit me up at ariel.shapiro@theverge.com.
Lightning round
The Athletic, which is owned by The New York Times, is getting rid of its local sports podcasts, reports Nieman Lab. The outlet will instead focus on national podcasts. The Athletic laid off 4 percent of its staff in June, though this new podcasting decision does not seem to have resulted in additional layoffs.
In addition to More Perfect, WNYC has canceled La Brega, according to New York Public Radio spokesperson Jennifer Houlihan Roussel. La Brega was a co-production with Futuro Media that was funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. Like More Perfect, La Brega was a seasonal production, which is the kind of show WNYC has said it will back away from in order to focus on local journalism.
Hot Pod has learned that Something Was Wrong host Tiffany Reese has been signed by WME. According to Bloomberg, the podcaster recently left UTA, where she was represented by the agency’s head of audio, Oren Rosenbaum.
Amid Audacy’s ongoing financial struggles, the radio giant has skipped an $18 million loan repayment as it attempts to refinance with its lenders. According to Inside Radio, Audacy, which owns Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios, will not be in default under the terms of its loan agreement.
Podtrac reports that podcast listening declined 10 percent in September among the top 20 publishers. That is true when measuring against figures both from August 2023 and September 2022. Podtrac’s data is not a complete picture — it is missing Spotify among its count — but still, that can’t be good.
The Swifties continue to exert their purchasing power and have kept New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce at number one on Apple Podcasts and number two (behind Rogan) on Spotify. Swifties aside, it follows the trend of celebrity chat shows surviving (and even thriving!) in an otherwise tough market.
That’s all for this week. Have a great long weekend!
Read the full article Here
