Gemini XIII Adds Content Division With Investment in Diversion Podcasts

Gemini XIII, the podcasting and radio industries’ new home for premium audio content, marketing, and advertising services, announces it has joined forces with Diversion Podcasts through an investment that will grow Diversion’s offerings under a new premium podcast network called Diversion Audio. Diversion Audio will become Gemini XIII’s content division and, alongside its new advertising and marketing groups, will be superbly poised for growth and success in the audio industry.

Diversion Audio will leverage sister company Diversion Books’ vast publishing assets and author relationships to offer a focused content model unique to podcasting: expanding IP from books, authors, and personalities into the podcast medium as original audio content across both high-frequency episodic shows and engrossing narrative limited series. Diversion Audio’s podcasts will drive new audience communities and tell expert-driven stories that spring from Diversion’s book titles, expanding them with additional interviews and guests, archival research, and narrative themes previously unexplored. Diversion Audio’s podcasts will span the genres of suspense, romance, parenting, music, history, business, and sports.

Diversion’s podcast “I Am Kobe,” developed with iHeartPodcasts, was recently honored with two Webby Awards, Best Sports Podcast 2022 and People’s Voice Winner. Later this year, Diversion will launch Season 2 of the multi-million listener hit series “Good Assassins,” one of the top 20 biggest new podcasts of 2021. In addition, Diversion’s hits include the #1 biggest new sports podcast of 2020, “The Dream Team Tapes.”

Scott Waxman, Founder of Waxman Literary Agency and Diversion Publishing Corp, will lead the newly-expanded network, Diversion Audio. He has been involved with dozens of New York Times bestsellers and published a broad range of authors from Mark Cuban to Ursula K. Le Guin to current bestselling phenomenon, V.E. Schwab. Diversion Publishing owns the publishing rights to thousands of book titles across fiction and non-fiction categories. Waxman created Diversion Podcasts in 2020 to develop new, immersive, episodic stories in audio.

Waxman will lead the new network along with Jacob Bronstein, SVP of Content and Development, who has spent his career in book publishing, podcast and audiobook production, marketing, and tech. Bronstein has helmed hundreds of audio projects with authors and actors including Tom Hanks, Ken Burns, Jeffrey Wright, and Judy Blume, and has three Grammy Awards for productions with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. At Apple Inc., Bronstein led the marketing organizations for Apple Podcasts, Apple Books, and Apple News and has worked in the podcast space with brands including Criminal Content, Lemonada Media, Insider, and Spooler.

Mark Francis, Co-Founder of Diversion Podcasts, is Diversion Audio’s SVP of Production and is an award-winning veteran entertainment executive with more than three decades in the audio industry as a writer, producer, and director. Francis helped launch the SiriusXM platform including 15 years as the Senior Director of Talk Production shaping the sound of shows and channels including Andy Cohen, Martha Stewart, and hundreds of others.

Gemini XIII is led by co-founders and national audio veterans Spencer Brown, CEO, who previously founded Cadence13 and Dial Global, and Charles Steinhauer, Gemini XIII’s COO and former COO of Westwood One. The company recently announced its acquisition of The Infinite Agency, a full-service digital advertising agency based in Dallas, TX, and Phantom Producer, the world’s first patented audio imaging service that includes web and mobile app user interfaces and makes professional audio production fully mobile. Gemini XIII is based in New York, with offices in Dallas and Sydney, Australia.

Spencer Brown, Co-Founder and CEO, Gemini XIII, said: “Through Diversion Audio, we will build upon the successful franchises and proven track record that Scott and his talented team have created at Diversion Podcasts. Together with our recent acquisitions of Phantom Producer and The Infinite Agency, Gemini XIII is well-positioned to optimize these premium assets and capabilities to build and grow a new breed of audio company. The creation of Diversion Audio advances that strategy considerably. We think podcast listeners and readers alike will love what they hear as we launch new podcasts tied to Diversion’s expansive intellectual property library.”

Scott Waxman, Founder and CEO, Diversion Publishing Corp., said: “Through our partnership with Gemini XIII we will be able to chart a promising new path for our podcasting strategy. While we have been fortunate with the success of our initial shows, working with Spencer Brown and Charles Steinhauer, two proven leaders in the audio space, Diversion Audio will be positioned for even bigger success. Combining Diversion’s IP library with Gemini’s XIII expertise in sales and marketing is a natural fit and we couldn’t be more excited about the days ahead as we build out Diversion Audio.”