Pacific Content, a leading producer of branded podcasts, will be shuttered by parent company Rogers Sports & Media. The company provided a statement which, while not providing financial or other data particulars, described a basic belt-tightening and sharpened focus:
“Pacific Content earned a strong reputation for its leadership in B2B podcasting with U.S.- based clients, and we’re proud of the work produced by the team,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “With economic challenges in this market over the past few years, we’ve decided to focus on our core audio business – creating meaningful content for Canadian audiences and advertisers. Podcasting remains a key part of our audio business with our continued investments in growing our in-house podcasts – Frequency Podcast Network and Sportsnet.“
In July, 2021 the company announced a broad and detailed expansion of available services, expanding from its core capability of branded podcast production to include planning, strategy, coaching, and measurement. [RAIN HERE]
There was a sign of trouble in February 2023, when the company laid off an undisclosed number of employees. [RAIN HERE]
Pacific Content was founded in 2014 by Steve Pratt, Jennifer Ouana, Chris Kelly, and Pat Kelly. Rogers acquired Pacific Content in May, 2019 (RAIN coverage HERE).
“I was very sad to hear about the decision to close Pacific Content,” Steve Pratt told RAIN News. “It does not diminish the great team, the brilliant creative work, or the results that the company delivered. I remain exceptionally proud of everything the whole team at Pacific Content built – it’s the high-water mark in my career.”
The announcement cites an end-of-June wind-down schedule, and says “all content producers and administrative staff supporting the company [will be] impacted.”