Farewell to Stitcher as SiriusXM seeks to consolidate users

In a sad but arguably predictable action, Sirius XM announces it will shut down the Stitcher podcast app in August. Founded in 2008, Stitcher is a venerable brand in the renaissance of podcasting. Existing Stitcher registered users will be shifted to the Sirius XM platform. The decision might have a brand maintenance aspect as well. Click for details. Continue Reading

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Global buys into iHeartMedia — 8.8%

UK-centered media and technology company Global has activated its investment arm, Honeycomb Investments LTD, to acquire 8.8% of iHeartMedia, the largest American commercial radio group and top podcast publisher. Remembering that Liberty also owns a stake in iHM, we speculate a brewing battle of buyers, as listener reach and advertising pull are increasingly parts of a cross-category landscape. Continue Reading

Jeff Umbro: SiriusXM, Spotify, Amazon, and the New York Times Announce Earnings

by Jeff Umbro

In this week’s column, The Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro rounds up recent earnings reports from Spotify, SiriusXM, The New York Times, and Amazon. (With stock charts.) A nice grab-bag of industry updates rounds out the issue. Oh, also a podcast recommendation. Continue Reading

SiriusXM earnings: A Pandora write-down + praise; Stitcher and the podcast biz. And the numbers.

SiriusXM, whose native and acquired assets address 150-million listeners, one of the largest audiences in American audio, reported Q4 earnings. Here, we recap the major financial points, then dive into key remarks pertaining to subsidiaries Pandora, Stitcher, and podcasting generally. Click through for illuminating quotes from the investor call. Continue Reading

Jeff Umbro: Content Moderation: Twitter, YouTube, Podcasts?

by Jeff Umbro

In this week’s column, The Podglomerate CEO Jeff Umbro grapples with the often-overlooked, always-challenging topic of podcast content moderation. Should podcasting undergo the level of scrutiny that social networks do? Along with these ruminations, the column catches up with news from Spotify, Apple, and elsewhere. Continue Reading

SoundCloud (unsurprisingly) picks AdsWizz for exclusive ad-repping in 14 Euro markets

AdsWizz is trumpeting a major get — Berlin-HQ’d global streamer SoundCloud has chosen the U.S.-HQ’d global ad-tech company AdsWizz to exclusively represent digital audio ad sales in significant European markets. This deal has an in-house feeling; AdsWizz is a subsidiary of Pandora, which is owned by Sirius XM, which also owns 30% of SoundCloud.  Continue Reading

Sirius XM Q1 results: Small growth for satellite radio operation and mixed performance for Pandora

Sirius XM has released its financials for the first quarter of 2020. The satellite radio and audio company reported revenue of $1.95 billion, up from $1.74 billion in the same period of 2019. Net income totaled $293 million, or 7 cents per share, up from $162 million, or 3 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Continue Reading