Amazon Audio Chief on Wondery 2.0 and Where Podcasts’ Big Money is Headed
Steve Boom tells me about the big market shifts and how video is killing the podcast star
I cover the creator economy at Like & Subscribe, a standalone newsletter that’s being sampled for a limited time for paid subscribers to The Ankler. I reported on how creators are making millions teaching online courses, the digital stars replacing late night TV and golf’s big YouTube swing. Email me at natalie@theankler.com
Every quarter, Edison Research asks Americans what podcasts they’re listening to. But in its latest survey, the analytics company added a new question: What shows were they watching?
Edison’s first list of top 50 podcasts to incorporate data from people who watch only video podcasts looks a bit different than past lists. The MeidasTouch Podcast, a video-forward show that currently sits atop the YouTube Podcast chart, jumped six spots. And video podcasts No Jumper and The Pat McAfee Show climbed 11 spots and 26 spots, respectively, to make their way onto the list, which is still topped by stalwarts The Joe Rogan Experience, Crime Junkie and The Daily. Amy Poehler-hosted Good Hang, which has a video feed, debuted on the chart in the No. 42 spot. And The Broski Report from TikTok and YouTube creator Brittany Broski showed up at No. 47.
Video has quickly lit up a medium that not long ago was primarily consumed via headphones. I wrote about the trend earlier this year when I unpacked YouTube’s ascension to the No. 1 destination for podcasts. But the impact of podcasting’s pivot to video was felt with new force this week, when Amazon announced it was dismantling Wondery, the podcast studio it acquired in 2021 for around $300 million, and laying off more than 100 employees including CEO Jen Sargent. The new structure moves Wondery’s narrative, audio-first podcasts under Amazon-owned Audible, while video podcasts like Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert and Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce’s New Heights will be handled by a new Amazon team focused on servicing creator-led shows.
It’s a startling fate for the U.S.’ fourth-largest podcast network, particularly when the industry is by all accounts growing to previously inconceivable heights. (Research firm Owl & Co. estimates that podcasts hit $7.3 billion in revenue last year.) When I called up one industry veteran to get his take, he summed it up as podcasting entering its “clunky teenage years” — an awkward limbo as stakeholders look to capitalize on the growing appetite for video while also still figuring out how to monetize and distribute those videos as effectively as they did with audio.
For today’s newsletter, I also spoke to Steve Boom, Amazon’s vice president of audio, Twitch and games who splits his time between Los Angeles and San Fransisco and oversees both the Wondery and Audible businesses. He gave me new details about what exactly was behind the decision to redistribute Wondery’s business across other parts of the tech giant’s organization, and a roadmap for podcasting’s future there.
“Podcasting is a very broad medium, and it’s gotten broader,” Boom tells me. “Arguably using the word podcast to describe these creator-first video podcasts is a misnomer.” But this doesn’t mean he thinks podcasts are going anywhere. Quite the opposite. “What we understand to be a podcast will change further in the next five years,” he predicts.
Keep reading for more of my conversation with Boom, as well as insights from a handful of podcast dealmakers and executives, who break down how podcasting is navigating these “teenage years” as it blossoms into a more mature, video-oriented medium. You’ll learn:
Exclusive intel from Amazon’s top audio exec — what Boom told me about the company’s internal decision-making and the part of the business Amazon is betting on next
How Amazon plans to compete with Spotify and YouTube, and why it sees video creators as its edge
Behind the scenes of Wondery’s unraveling — what insiders say changed after its $300 million acquisition by Amazon, and how its shuttering signals a major strategy shift
Where the money is now, and why video-first creator shows are winning on ad revenue
What happens to Wondery’s biggest stars — including Shepard and the Kelce brothers
Amazon’s e-commerce edge for creators
Why video clips are driving podcast discovery, forcing creators to adapt
What even counts as a podcast anymore? The identity crisis reshaping the medium
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