Leading podcast platform Amaze Media Labs acquires Jam Street Media in a category-busting deal

Today, it was announced that Amaze Media Labs—a gamechanger in the podcast space by combining compelling customizable content with live experiences and co-founded in 2020 by Robert Tuchman, CEO; Brett Sklar, COO; and Stephen Master, CMO —has acquired Jam Street Media, founded by Matty Staudt and the noted producer of branded podcasts for institutions such as The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank and Cisco Systems, in addition to original content hits: “Appalachian Mysteria” and “Deep Cover The Real Donnie Brasco.” The deal represents the extraordinary evolution of the podcast industry across categories.

Recent Nielsen studies have found branded podcasts to be highly effective across key metrics of awareness and purchase intent. At the same time, podcasts are gaining traction as part of brands annual marketing planning.

Amaze Media Labs also owns several top-rated podcast networks across sports and culinary, including: The Hockey Podcast Network, The Basketball Podcast Network, and Eat, Drink & Dine. Now, with the expanded award-winning production capabilities of Jam Street, the combination will create a content generating juggernaut in the podcast space.

Tuchman and Sklar are no strangers to success—literally and figuratively—they hail from having two separate companies listed on the INC. 500 and eventually selling both after proving their value to investors and eventually, their buyers.

This parlayed itself naturally into Tuchman’s hosting of one of Entrepreneur Media’s most popular podcasts, “How Success Happens.” The weekly podcast features in depth conversations with many of today’s biggest and brightest entrepreneurs and offers a unique opportunity for sponsoring brands to connect with a highly engaged audience. Featured guests have run the gamut across the highest levels of business and innovation: Danny Meyer, Arthur Blank, Alex Rodriguez, Jeff Immelt, Alli Webb, Rebecca Minkoff, and Jenny Fleiss—to name a few.

The acquisition by Amaze Media Labs, consisting of former CAA, Nielsen, and iHeartRadio executives who understand podcasts are about great storytelling and the data to back it up, of Jam Street Media produces exciting synergies and the possibility to scale exponentially.

Tuchman commented:

“Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication. With the combination of Amaze Media Labs and Jam Street Media, we are truly developing the next level of storytelling that connects celebrities, brands, and live experiences with the audiences that are eager to hear their words of leadership, motivation, creativity, education, and impact.” Tuchman continued: “I cannot express how thrilled I am to work with a giant of the industry, Matty Staudt, of Jam Street.”

Jam Street Media is widely known for its podcasts that evoke empathy, education, and entertainment. Staudt, a broadcasting veteran ever since he cracked a mic at the age of 16 in his hometown of Keyser, West Virginia, had a storied radio career spanning such legendary stations as WJFK in Washington DC, WNEW in New York City, Alice Radio (KLLC) and Live 105 (KITS) in San Francisco. In 2007, Staudt moved into the podcast space as a member of the start up team at Stitcher as their first Director of Content and most recently served as the first VP of Podcast Programming at iHeartRadio before founding Jam Street in 2019.

Staudt remarked:

“Since we started Stitcher in 2007, it’s been my pleasure to watch our industry grow into what it is today. Creating beautiful shows that highlight great audio storytelling is my passion and what we strive to do in all our projects”

Staudt added: “This combination of Amaze Media Labs with Jam Street will allow hundreds of brands to reach their intended audiences and give the best client experience in the business. Quality is something important to both Robert and myself and it comes through in our shows.”

The combined podcast industry powerhouse will help ease all type of aspiring broadcasters to articulate their own narrative, create new opportunities for their brand to be visible, newsworthy, and shareable, and improve brand perception while cultivating communities of active consumers. High-profile brands include: Esteé Lauder Companies, Ford Motor Company, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Vertex, and BetMGM, all of which are examples of direct, proven, scalable, innovative, and results driven success.

The combination of the two companies will be effective immediately, Tuchman will continue on in the merged business as CEO and Staudt will serve as EVP, Head of Content & Production. The senior leadership team will include: Sklar Co- Founder & COO, Master Co-Founder & CMO, Hope Newman EVP, Head of Client Services, and Laura Petasnick, VP, Head of Branded Sales.

About Amaze Media Labs

Founded in 2020 by Robert Tuchman, Brett Sklar and Stephen Master, Amaze Media Labs was built to help brands succeed on the next frontier of community engagement with podcasts and live experiences. Amaze Media Labs podcast platform consists of branded podcasts, podcast networks, live podcast experiences, and original content. With deep insight and relationships developed over 20 years in sports, entertainment, and lifestyle media the team excels at creating branded content and experiences that audiences love, trust and share. Amaze’s mission is to create passionate communities for the world’s leading brands. Amaze combines access to celebrities and influencers with unique perspectives and deep media industry roots to create content and experiences that transform audiences into fans, and brands into stars of the show.

For more information, log onto: www.amazemedialabs.com