Vox Media has bought Criminal Productions, whose best-known show is Criminal, which has appeared on several “Best Of” lists. Vox plans to double the unit’s staff, expand Criminal to a weekly show, and develop new ones. All this takes place within Vox’s podcast division, Vox Media Podcast Network. Vox also takes over ad sales. Continue Reading
Bad Robot, the film/TV firm founded and run by J.J. Abrams, whose franchises include Star Trek and Cloverfield movies, has jumped into audio with the creation of a podcast unit. Abrams pulled Christina Choi away from Audible to head the venture. The whole thing is tied up with Spotify. Continue Reading
Libsyn makes another deal. PODGO, founded last year, brings together podcasts of any reach with advertisers who want highly targeted, host-read sponsorship messages. Click for more info and a rundown of Libsyn’s acquisition streak. Continue Reading
Audacy, the largest commercial radio group in the U.S. and a major podcast network, has acquired WO Streaming — the digital audio streaming technology of media tech solutions company WideOrbit. This action probably (but without confirmation at this time) explains the $45-million mystery investment announced last week by Audacy. Click through for details and history. Continue Reading
SiriusXM notified us of a creative and strategic agreement with podcast production house Audio Up to make podcasts and other types of audio. But there is more to this than the typical co-production deal. SiriusXM also laid $12M on Audio Up and joined the board. We asked Sirius whether an acquisition is in the wind. Continue Reading
Slate has made an interesting partnership between its podcast division and Pocket, the Mozilla-built app which offers topical reading collections. Slate will put podcast-specific reading collections onto Pocket. The project is called “Stories Behind the Podcast.” We like how it crosses over media categories and broadens the podcast experience. Continue Reading
Good news for classical lovers in Apple Music, bad news for Primephonic subscribers: Apple has bought Primephonic and will shut it down a week from today. Primephonic subscribers get put into Apple Music. The company will make a new classical streaming experience from Primephonic assets. Continue Reading
Audioboom has struck a deal with Samsung in which the podcast company’s top 100 podcasts appear in the Samsung Free app. Samsung Free comes pre-installed on newer Samsung Galaxy devices, features all kinds of curated media content at no cost, and is used by millions of people globally. Continue Reading
Crooked Media, the network home of Pod Save America and over 20 other podcasts, has entered a partnership with Acast to unlock international advertising. The deal announcement is focused on Acast’s English-speaking markets: Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Continue Reading
Automattic, parent company of WordPress has acquired podcast listening app Pocket Casts from NPR and a consortium of public stations. The idea is to integrate a respected audio platform with the world’s dominant blogging platform, which already has text-to-speech capability. Lots of potential and interest here.
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American Public Media (APM) announces this morning a sales and content development agreement with Cadence13, an Audacy company, wherein Cadence13 will exclusively represent ad sales for APM podcasts, and the two organizations will collaboratively develop new shows. Continue Reading
In a UK-based consumer survey report based partly on podcasts and partly on digital audio generally, results indicate that marketing in both realms is beneficial to advertisers, and in many respects is superior to TV advertising. The research was conducted by MAGNA and funded by Spotify. Click through for details and the download link. Continue Reading