Amazon cuts Wondery: 110 jobs to go

Sponsored by Riverside. Your podcast deserves more than audio. Riverside captures studio‑quality video and audio, cleans tracks with AI, and auto‑generates shareable clips, so episodes are published before your first coffee.

• One of the biggest and most successful podcast producers, Wondery, is to be restructured by Amazon, laying off a reported 110 people including the company’s CEO, Jen Sargent. Wondery was bought by Amazon at the end of 2020 for $300mn, then doubled its staff. It currently has around 360 published shows.
  
  
  
  • Wondery’s narrative podcast studio will be combined with Audible. Marshall Lewy, Wondery’s Chief Content Officer, will also join Audible. The company’s creator-led shows (New Heights, Armchair Expert, etc) will be merged with the existing Talent Services team, rebranding to Creator Services. Ads and sponsorship will merge with a team at Amazon Music. Ads and sponsorship will create an entirely new team that includes the existing ad-sales team at Amazon Music.
  
  
  • The story was broken by Bloomberg in a paywalled article. (Podnews readers can save on a subscription). Business Insider carries the memo from Steve Boom explaining the changes, and noting that podcast revenue has grown by 4x since the company was bought by Amazon.
  
  
  
  


• Why the change? Video killed the owl, it seems. The memo reads: “The podcast landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years. As video podcasting has grown in popularity, we have learned that creator-led, video-integrated shows have different audience needs and require distinct discovery, growth and monetization strategies compared to audio-first, narrative series. The rise of video has also blurred the lines on what it means to be a podcast creator.”
  
  
  
  • Amazon’s decision should be read alongside the performance of its other podcast acquisitions. Amazon bought podcast hosting company ART19 in June 2021, which has never achieved more than a 1% share of total episodes published, and currently hosts 3,900 shows (other enterprise hosts like Megaphone, Simplecast or Triton/Omny each host around 20,000). Amazon splashed $80mn on the SmartLess podcast: but that deal only lasted three years. Last year it spent $100mn for New Heights, promising international audio adaptations (which haven’t happened) and live events - there hasn’t been a live event for the show since Amazon’s ownership. Amazon Music started slowly adding podcasts in 2020; it has a 13% market share for music in the US, but achieves just a 1.6% share of US podcast downloads.
  
  
  
  


• If you’re affected by recent layoffs at Wondery, Pineapple Street Studios or public radio, Podcast Movement is offering a limited number of complimentary passes for its event in Dallas later this month. Email [email protected] to get connected with the team.
  
  
  
  • Podnews has a free jobs board, and if we can help in any way, just reply to this email.
  
  
  
  

> > > Read more of today’s podcast industry news stories on the Podnews website: and get our free daily newsletter.

Classifieds - your job or ad here

• Business owner with a struggling podcast? — Most podcasts don’t fail from lack of effort. They fail from bad strategy.

  Let's fix that with a free 30-min session. No hidden fees. No commitments. Just free advice.

• 🎙️ Boost Your Podcast Audience with Player FM — Player FM’s self-serve ad portal helps increase your reach, engagement, and downloads. Tailor your campaigns to your goals and budget. Launch your campaign today!
• Broadcast Quality Audio for Podcasts -Audyllic.com — Studio sound isn’t broadcast sound. Audyllic.com transforms your podcast into smooth, loud, clear audio that stands out—just like successful radio. Try it free and hear the upgrade.

Gold supporters: Buzzsprout, Mowpod, Mamamia, PodMatch, The $100 MBA, The Podglomerate, Cloud10, Sounds Profitable, Audiohook, RedCircle, SALT, Simplecast, audioBoom, Cohost, Steve Lack: Audio, Podscribe, Resound, Riverside.fm, Jar Podcast Solutions, Podchaser, Awesound, Evergreen Podcasts, Knucklehead Media Group, We Edit Podcasts, Podpage websites, Acast, Disctopia

Silver supporters: Audacia Audio, Gamut Podcast Network, Bumper, Goalhanger, Sounds Debatable, Magellan AI, Ausha, Tink Media, Gumball, Podium , SoundStack, Truefans, Ask Ralph Christian Finance, Voxtopica, Huberman Lab, Jonekiri, Frequency, Storyboard, Castbox, POW PR, The Roost, Compliance Podcast Network, ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Aust, Gilded Audio, The Podcast Haven, Red Seat Ventures, Podcastpage, Message Heard, Health Podcast Network, Podcast Taxi, Lemonada Media, Jam Street Media, Oxford Road, Sonic Influencer Marketing, Transistor, Zvook, matchmaker.fm, Headliner, Ossa Collective, Rephonic, Diversion Podcasts, Castos, Heartcast Media50, Rhapsody Voices, Optimal Living Daily, Blubrry, Wondery, Double Elvis Productions, StreamGuys, Podcast Partnership, Hear.Here.Singapore, Ad Results Media, Content10x, Cleanfeed, She Podcasts, Lower Street, Revolver Podcasts, Podigy, School of Podcasting, Sonix, Podcast Movement, Adopter Media, Signal Hill Insights, Edison Research

Our supporters pay for Podnews, so everyone can read it. Join them today.

Image: Des Récits