iHeartMedia is announcing a multiyear agreement with Bloomberg Media which will see Bloomberg’s nearly 30 podcasts hosted on iHeart, and the two companies co-produce a dozen new ones. Continue Reading
Media Creek, the holding company of Live365 and EmpireStreaming, has acquired audio advertising consultancy AudioCatapult. Terms are not disclosed. AudioCatapult founder Mike Reznick notified us of this transaction, and will step into the Chief Operations Officer role at Media Creek. Continue Reading
Audio giant Audible is sending around notice of a development and production deal with audio storytelling company Treefort Media, to produce original scripted audio series. Described as a “first-look development and production deal,” three shows are starting production now, each one featuring known film actors. To our eyes, they appear primed for video/TV crossover. Continue Reading
In November we reported a partnership of iHeartRadio and Pushkin Industries, the audio production company founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018. Now we learn of the first jointly produced show: Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi, which will drop on June 9. Continue Reading
Emulating Spotify and The New York Times, and furthering an ongoing era of podcast consolidation, SiriusXM has acquired 99% Invisible Inc., the owner of the venerable 99% Invisible podcast and its spinoffs. The podcast was launched by host Roman Mars in 2010, which could be considered the Middle Ages of podcasting — an era between the rosy founding days of a new media category and the modern resurgence which started with NPR’s Serial in 2014. Click for details. Continue Reading
Spotify is potentially extending its global reach in podcast distribution in a collaboration with Facebook, which has about eight times as many users. We tested sharing Spotify podcasts on the Facebook news feed. It sort of worked. Continue Reading
Vox Media announced Sunday evening that it has acquired Cafe Studios, co-founded in 2017 by Preet Bharara. Cafe Studios explores how law and policy intersect with politics, news, business, history, and technology. The acquisition will be placed in Vox Media Podcast Network, a division of Vox Media Studios, a unit of Vox Media. Continue Reading
Casted, which calls itself an first Amplified Marketing Platform for B2B marketers, has raised seven million dollars in a Series A round led by Revolution Ventures. Other investors include High Alpha Capital, Elevate Ventures, and Tappan Hill Ventures. The company quadrupled revenue in 2020, and one key investor predicts a multi-billion dollar sector. Continue Reading
Spotify has announced its acquisition of Betty Labs, a tech startup which build Locker Room, a live audio conversation space for sports fans. The company says the grab will “accelerate Spotify’s entry into the live audio space.” Other remarks from Spotify sound like a plan to eat Clubhouse’s lunch. Continue Reading
Libsyn, one of the world’s largest podcast hosting companies, announces today that it will acquire AdvertiseCast, a podcast ad planning and buying platform. The purchase is supported by $25-million in funds that the publicly traded company raised privately. While this funding is apparently motivated chiefly to enable the AdvertiseCast purchase, the investment is also intended “to provide Libsyn with additional capital for other strategic acquisitions.” Continue Reading
Will Packer Media is entering a formal and longer-range partnership to create a slate of scripted and unscripted podcasts for iHeart. Will Packer is a Hollywood producer. James Lopez is his production partner in the Fight Night podcast, a true crime show which was placed in iHeartRadio in 2020. The first spawn of this new arrangement will be an urban drama scripted series centered in present-day Oakland, California. It is set to launch in the second quarter of 2021. Continue Reading
UK-based radio and technology behemoth Global is attempting to acquire 49.9% of iHeartMedia, the largest commercial radio group in the U.S. Doing so would require exemption from U.S. government rules that regulate foreign ownership of U.S. broadcasting companies. Global is seeking that exemption now, and in doing so seems to be revealing a potential misunderstanding between the two companies. There are precedents in which the FCC has granted exemptions, but not of this scale. Continue Reading