Wondery became the latest company to pivot to video, as the podcasting industry works through more growing pains.
On Aug. 4, Wondery, the podcasting company owned by Amazon, announced that it would move its narrative podcast slate, which includes Dr. Death, American Scandal and Business Wars, to Audible, Amazon’s audiobook and podcast service. Top creators who have video-focused podcasts, such as Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights, Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert and LeBron James’ Mind The Game will move to Amazon’s creator services team, where a team will work to further integrate the shows across Amazon and unlock bigger brand deals, with those titles still under the Wondery brand name.
After acquiring Wondery in 2021 for a reported $300 million and bringing in several big podcast titles, Amazon is readjusting its strategy and turning to video podcasts, which is where consumption and ad dollars have shifted. As part of that, large players including Wondery, as well as Spotify, are also trying to compete against YouTube, which has become the most popular podcasting platform.
“YouTube is the elephant in every room, I think,” said Josh Lindgren, head of CAA’s podcast department. “Everyone’s thinking about video podcasting. And people are responding in different ways.”
About 110 people were laid off at Wondery as part of the reorganization, and CEO Jen Sargent is set to depart.
A person familiar with the matter told The Hollywood Reporter they believed the majority of impacted employees were connected to the narrative podcasting division. The narrative division had also been talking about how to incorporate video into their work, the source said, but the proposition was harder for limited series and investigative journalism projects. While prestigious, these shows also often carry longer turnarounds and higher production costs compared to the more streamlined, talent-focused shows. Limited series also have a shorter runway for ad monetization as compared to longer-running talk shows with a video component.
This may have come to a head as Wondery was up against a profitability mandate, set by Amazon, which it must reach by the end of the year, according to the source.
YouTube is the video podcasting leader, with 1 billion monthly active viewers of podcast content as of February, and it’s the most popular podcast platform for consuming podcasts, according to Edison Research. That popularity has helped translate into close to $10 billion in advertising revenue in the most recent quarter. In addition to the sheer number of users on the platform, YouTube’s algorithm encourages the viewing of additional video podcasts, which also helps the numbers. (In general, video clips of podcasts have also been used on social media to make it easier to find new shows, which has been a problem in audio-only formats.)
Spotify has also made a big pivot toward video podcasts in 2024, and has seen some eye-popping stats, with executives saying on the June 29 earnings call that video podcast consumption has grown 20 times faster than audio-only consumption, with the platform now boasting more than 430,000 video podcasts. This came after the company ceded its exclusive distribution model for podcasts, after spending big to build up its podcasting slate, and also underwent rounds of layoffs.
In June, radio conglomerate Audacy shut down its Pineapple Street Studios division, which produced podcasts for third-party brands such as HBO, Apple TV+ and Netflix, and, which was seen as another sign of the podcasting industry’s move away from the audio-only business.
Asked where Wondery’s other podcasts, which include Scamfluencers and How I Built This, which is licensed from NPR, would move, and if any had been cancelled, a spokesperson for Wondery said the company was still “finalizing content distribution details for specific shows.” Other big titles, including Morbid and SmartLess, had already left Wondery for SiriusXM.
Despite the concern, industry experts say these trends don’t necessarily spell the end for narrative podcasts. Clients would already often pitch both Audible and Wondery on the same shows, according to one podcast agent, so combining forces made sense. And podcasting trends show that consumption, and ad dollars, are continuing to grow, which leaves room for different modes of listening, even if video appears to be growing faster.
“It’s not all one or the other,” Lindgren said. “And the success of video podcasting isn’t a detriment to the success of audio podcasting.”