The Stitcher app closes: the internal memo
An internal memo announcing the closure of the Stitcher app
From: Joe Inzerillo (Chief Product & Tech Officer), John Trimble (Chief Ad Revenue Officer), and Scott Greenstein (Chief Content Officer)
To: All Staff
Date: June 27, 2023 @ 12:00 PM ET
Subject: An Update from Joe Inzerillo, John Trimble and Scott Greenstein
All,
As we continue to evolve our business and our brands, we’ve made the decision to sunset the Stitcher app at the end of August. Podcasts are an important part of both our subscription and advertising strategies. The scale and reach of our widely-distributed podcasts has been and remains a crucial accelerant for our advertising sales business, while incorporating podcasts more holistically into our flagship SiriusXM subscription service will help to drive further growth. As a result, we have made the decision to sunset our standalone podcast listening app as we increase our focus on these priorities.
One of the original destinations for podcasters and podcast fans, Stitcher’s business evolved with the industry as podcasting went from being a niche format to a billion-dollar juggernaut. With the Stitcher team now fully integrated into SiriusXM, we have united our strengths to create the SiriusXM Podcast Network, one of the largest podcast advertising networks in the country. We are also helping new and existing partners to do more within podcasts, taking what Midroll did exceptionally well and supercharging it with the combined power of SXM Media and AdsWizz. On the content side, through our reorganization earlier this year, which moved podcast programming alongside comedy and entertainment, we are able to give legendary podcasters a new platform on SiriusXM while also introducing the biggest stars on our roster to podcasting.
Today, an estimated 120 million people around the US listen to podcasts each month, and with more shows in the Edison top 50 than any other company – we believe our wide distribution model has helped make so many of the podcasts we produce and represent a success.
Our unique ecosystem gives us flexibility to experiment, and with the new SiriusXM streaming experience launching this fall, we are taking inspiration and learnings from the Stitcher app to drive improved podcast listening for our subscribers, with the goal of making SiriusXM a competitive and credible listening platform for talk and podcast content from across the Company.
With legacy Stitcher team members embedded within every aspect of our business, from programming and marketing to sales and technology, we are thrilled to continue to bring podcasting into everything that we do.
If anyone has any questions or wants to chat further, just reach out.
Thank you,
Joe, John, and Scott
