Legendary podcaster Marc Maron is taking his WTF with Marc Maron show to Acast for full representation and distribution, starting July 1. The new alliance means that Acast will be the exclusive host and sales partner for the podcast, its full back catalog, and other related materials. The show’s schedule and distribution won’t change. Continue Reading
Today SiriusXM announces its acquisition of Conan O’Brien’s podcast company Team Coco, for $150-million. The deal includes hit podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” and all Team Coco employees become SiriusXM employees. Team Coco produced 14 shows currently. Conan enters a five-year development deal. Continue Reading
From Triton Digital co-founder and audio entrepreneur Mike Agovina we learn that he has partnered with broadcasting and production firm Guaranty Media to make a new podcast creation enterprise called Drop Biscuit Studios. This announcement shines light on a project… Continue Reading
Riverside, the remote video production platform increasingly used by audio podcasters, has completed a $35-million fundraising round. The investment is led by Oren Zeev (early investor in Audible and many other startups). The funding windfall comes days after the announcement of a high-level partnership with Spotify. Continue Reading
This Rumor Fact(ory) comes from Bloomberg, which reports unnamed sources saying that the Obamas will not renew their deal with Spotify on behalf of their podcast creation company Higher Ground. The Obamas are being courted by iHeartMedia and Amazon/Audible, according to those insiders. Continue Reading
Co-hosted by Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips, Food, We Need To Talk is a podcast about eating, body, weight loss, and health. The show launches its second season with a new business infrastructure provided by PRX. The public media and podcast group will provide distribution, monetization, and production support. Continue Reading
Media giant Vox has notified us that Today, Explained, the company’s flagship daily news podcast hosted by Sean Rameswaram and Noel King, is now carried by over 50 public radio stations across the country. The arrangement is made via WNYC Studios. Each host has a public radio background. Continue Reading
Podcast network Crooked Media has signed with SXM Media (ad-sales arm of Sirius XM), giving SXM exclusive global ad sales rights across Crooked Media’s catalog. Crooked is best known for Pod Save America but has 27 titles. The sales rights in this deal are extensive. Click for details. Continue Reading
Two French podcast publishers, Bababam and Choses a Savoir, have chosen Spotify subsidiary Megaphone for creation, monetization, and metrics analysis. As part of joining Megaphone, these two publishers will be early testers of the Spotify Audience Network in France. The announcement includes metrics from Chartable, acquired by Spotify to bundle into Megaphone. Continue Reading
This morning venerable podcast hosting platform Libsyn announced its acquisition of Podcast Ad RepsLLC, known as PAR. PAR will be bundled into AdvertiseCast, a previous Libsyn acquisition. Rick Selah and Anthony Savelli, PAR’s founders, and Co-CEOs, will join AdvertiseCast’s leadership team. Continue Reading
In an ambitious and consequential grab, Spotify has acquired two pillars of podcast advertising attribution, Chartable and Podsights. The additions fortify Spotify’s inceasingly formidable podcast tech stack, at the center of which is the Megaphone hosting and ad-tech platform. Continue Reading
Apple top-10 charter and NPR hit How I Built This with Guy Roz has been licensed by Amazon Music subsidiary Wondery for semi-exclusive distribution. Wondery and Amazon get the show exclusively for a week, and also enjoy exclusive ad-repping. NPR continues to underwrite. Click for details. Continue Reading