Search for ‘SiriusXM’

SiriusXM released its Q1/24 financial earnings. The numbers are down for satellite radio and for Pandora; but Chris Peterson looks at the numbers from a podcast point of view, and discovers a bright lining: podcast revenue was up 22% year-on-year, and programmatic podcast revenue has almost doubled.

SiriusXM’s President & Chief Content Officer Scott Greenstein will be in conversation with James Corden at The Podcast Show. It’s the latest announcement from the show, which is in London on May 22-23. More than 15,000 delegates are expected from around the world. Tickets are here - use PODNEWS10 to save on selected passes. Our Editor is also speaking at the event.

Three US presidents are united on an episode of SmartLess available today. Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes were joined by Presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton in New York City. The episode was available early on Amazon Music and Wondery+. The show switches to SiriusXM later this year.

Crime Junkie is to be a 24-hour radio station. Crime Junkie Radio is a 24/7 true crime radio station on SiriusXM. It launches on Friday morning.

Spotify is the largest global digital audio advertising company, with ad-supported revenue in Q4/23 of €501mn ($533mn), compared with SiriusXM $479mn; iHeart digital audio revenue $317mn; Cumulus digital revenue $221mn; Audacy digital revenue $69.1mn; Acast $45mn. All these other companies are IAB members.

Sports fans in the US spend more than two hours longer with audio content every day, according to a preview of the Sports Audio Report from Edison Research, SiriusXM Media and GroupM.

Audioboom is to expand its sales division with the appointment of Molly Harvey as VP, Brand Sales (joining from SiriusXM and CBS Radio) and Shaun Wilson as Vice President, UK Sales (returning from Spotify and Sony Music).

SiriusXM has signed-up Patrick J. Adams and Sarah Rafferty for a rewatch podcast of Suits, which has seen a surge of popularity since being released on streaming platforms.

Stars and Stars with Isa is new today from Futuro Studios and SiriusXM's Stitcher Studios; Isa Nakazawa is joined by some of the most talented stars of our time to examine what the planets and stars above reveal about the way the guests walk the world, experience love, and determine their life's purpose. It's the first launch from SiriusXM’s Listen Next initiative to develop diverse audio talent and promote inclusivity in podcasting.

The iHeartPodcast Awards took place at SXSW in Austin, TX. Podcast of the Year went to New Heights; iHeart won seven of the thirty awards (including the international winner from iHeartPodcasts Australia); SiriusXM’s Simplecast hosted nine of the winners; iHeart’s Omny Studio hosted eight. We’ve a full list of the winners here, and video of the event.

Watching the Oscars yesterday? Did you see the ad for SiriusXM? It’s part of the company’s “closer” national brand campaign, which showcases how SiriusXM brings listeners closer to what moves them. The full video can be seen here.

Wondery and SmartLess Media launch WikiHole with D’Arcy Carden today - a game-show style trivia game based on Wikipedia entries. It was launched with a live show in Los Angeles. The show, a production of SmartLess Media, Radio Point and Aggregate Films, remains with Wondery despite much of SmartLess's slate being signed by SiriusXM earlier in the year.

Sarah van Mosel is back at SiriusXM as SVP, Podcast Strategy. It’s part of a number of podcast leadership changes at the company - we’ve an excerpt from an internal memo. She’d worked at Stitcher; then worked for Realm and iHeartMedia among others.

In the Courts #1: There’s been (some) action in the National Association of the Deaf vs SiriusXM two year-old legal case, where SiriusXM has been taken to court for not producing transcripts. The lawyers for the NAD furiously say that SiriusXM didn’t give them any information about its new app (“sandbagging!” “incredibly vague!” “effort to sabotage!”) and asking for a further delay. SiriusXM’s lawyers furiously say that SiriusXM had a new app on Dec 12 which they told the other side about within two months and it does (some) transcripts now, and they allege bad faith on behalf of the NAD’s lawyers (“feigned surprise!” “acting improperly!” “tenuous assertions!”), but also are asking for a further delay. Anyone would think lawyers are paid by the hour. Meanwhile, Apple Podcasts will roll out transcripts for almost 100% of shows within the next few months.

Podcrushed and Threedom have been signed by Lemonada Media. Both shows were with SiriusXM’s Earwolf; one of the co-hosts of Threedom, Scott Aukerman, launched Earwolf in 2010. Other Earwolf shows have left the network in the past year, to Sony, AdvertiseCast, and Lemonada.

Triton Digital released its January 2024 Podcast Ranker. NPR has the #1 podcast; SiriusXM is the #1 sales network. However, as we highlight in our report about iOS 17, Triton Digital’s ranker shows a year-on-year drop for average weekly podcast downloads of almost 33%.

SiriusXM has laid-off 160 further employees - the same company that paid $100mn to buy SmartLess last month. It’s not that clear which departments will be affected.

The Infinite Dial 2024 (for the US) will be unveiled at Evolutions by Podcast Movement in Los Angeles on Mar 28. The gold-standard study from Edison Research is America’s longest-running survey of digital media consumer behaviour. This year, it’s with support from Audacy, Cumulus Media, and SiriusXM Media.

SXM Media has a new logo and a new name: it’s now SiriusXM Media.

Adam Gilbert has been hired as Chief Revenue Officer of Ossa Collective. A podcast pioneer, he initiated the first podcast campaign for Stamps.com in 2011, and joins from iHeart, SiriusXM and Westwood One.

SiriusXM has signed a multi-year agreement with SmartLess. The deal is reportedly worth $100mn over the next three years. New episodes of SmartLess will not be exclusive, but will publish one week early on the platform, as in the previous deal with Amazon’s Wondery, who spent around $80mn in June 2021. The deal was, again, brokered by CAA.

A case brought by the National Association of the Deaf against SiriusXM for a lack of transcripts in its app is scheduled to start in court on Feb 29, and will run into May. The legal action started in December 2021.

Actor James van der Beek has failed in a bid to take Sirius XM to court. He’d alleged breach of contract for a $700,000 podcast deal. A Californian judge said on Friday that he’d never signed the agreement.

The legal action against SiriusXM for not having podcast transcripts, brought by the National Association of the Deaf, is now not going to be decided until at least May.

The judgement for the National Association of the Deaf vs SiriusXM court case alleging a lack of transcripts - ongoing for two years now - has been kicked back a further month. SiriusXM is “not willing to engage in meaningful settlement discussions at this time”, suggests a letter to the judge. In the US, you can now turn on live captions on iPhone, Pixel phones and your browser.

Stew Cornelius has joined Acast as an Account Director based in NYC. Stew has a broad background in media and has held roles at Turner Broadcasting, Hulu, and Twitter. Andrew Mongarella is a new Account Director with Acast in NYC. Andrew has spent the bulk of his career in digital audio sales with roles at SiriusXM and SoundCloud.

Defector, a sports blog and media company, posted its annual report. It switched from SiriusXM to Multitude for ad sales and live events in early 2023.

Ashley Flowers, Founder & CCO, Audiochuck and Host, William "Donwill" Freeman, Rapper, DJ, Producer & Host, Neil Cowling, Founder, Fresh Air Production, Laci Mosley, Actress, Comedian & Host of Scam Goddess, Adam Sachs, SVP Comedy Entertainment Radio & Podcasts, SiriusXM, and Malvina Goldfeld, Chief Product Officer, Podimo.

Fast Company looks at SiriusXM's new logo. (It's from a British company).

The National Association of the Deaf and SiriusXM are in negotiation for a settlement in the case brought against the company about a lack of transcripts. A judgement is now expected by Jan 31.

SiriusXM revealed its new app. It'll roll out from Dec 14: "improved podcast listening" is promised. The company closed Stitcher, its podcast app, earlier in the year.

James Corden, a British actor and former US television host, has signed a deal for a show on SiriusXM. The Guardian_ reports it "will only be available for subscribers to SiriusXM".

Sound Detectives launched earlier this week from SiriusXM’s Stitcher Studios and LeVar Burton Entertainment - a new educational series that will teach kids to listen closely to help identify sounds from cultures and places all over the world. It's made for kids age 5+.

SiriusXM released its Q3 financial numbers. Podcasting saw a revenue growth of 28% in the quarter. The number of users at Pandora continues to shrink, though.

Back in December 2021, the National Association for the Deaf and Disability Rights Advocates sued SiriusXM for "failing to provide podcast transcripts for deaf users"; a request SiriusXM's lawyers called "misplaced and completely unreasonable" in August 2022. The case is due to reach a deadline on Dec 8; last week, Disability Rights Advocates wrote to the judge suggesting that SiriusXM may be working on "accessibility aids on the podcast content available on their platforms".

Ashley Flowers, Founder & CCO, Audiochuck and Host, William "Donwill" Freeman, Rapper, DJ, Producer & Host, Neil Cowling, Founder, Fresh Air Production, Laci Mosley, Actress, Comedian & Host of Scam Goddess, Adam Sachs, SVP Comedy Entertainment Radio & Podcasts, SiriusXM, and Malvina Goldfeld, Chief Product Officer, Podimo.

Liberty Media and SiriusXM are planning a merger. Liberty owns 83% of the company.

SiriusXM, Barometer and ArtsAI have launched a brand suitability and safety tool that gives reporting mid-campaign, so advertisers can optimise during a campaign. The tool is based on AB Daily, which was announced in May.

Music royalties organisation SoundExchange has filed a lawsuit against SiriusXM (#520) for unpaid music royalties. The lawsuit is related to the company's radio services, not podcasts.

Edison Podcast Metrics unveiled the US Top Podcast Networks, by reach. Spotify is #1; SiriusXM is #2 and iHeartRadio is #3.

SiriusXM released its Q2/23 financials. Podcast ad revenue was higher, though not split out in the results; programming costs were higher too. Pandora fared less well, selling fewer ads, and reaching 3m fewer people per month. The word "Stitcher" doesn't appear once in the results; the podcast app closes at the end of this month.

In the UK, Octave IP has signed a deal to sell advertising for select podcasts owned and operated by SiriusXM and Stitcher Media.

The Canada Podcast Ranker for May was released at the end of last week by Triton Digital. For sales networks, Amazon's Wondery Network overtook CBC/Radio-Canada to reach second place, behind the SiriusXM Podcast Network. It lists participating publishers only.

Squint and you'll see the Stitcher logo top-left in the thumbnail: Better Tomorrow with Hannah Brown is new from Stitcher Studios and Lagos Creative, and premieres Jul 19. The TV personality she seeks to answer life’s big questions: “Am I better today than I was yesterday? And how can I learn to be better tomorrow?”

This move means no job losses. Stitcher Studios will continue to operate, as part of the successful SiriusXM Podcast Network: one of the biggest in the US, it represents 5 of the top 20 podcasts in the Edison Podcast Ranker.

A new relationships podcast from Punkie Johnson, Love Thang, launches today on SiriusXM's Laugh Out Loud Radio, and is released tomorrow. Punkie and her hilarious best friend and co-host, Dicey, give their highly unqualified advice on matters of the heart. The show will be weekly.

"We believe in podcasters and content creators who want to distribute their content broadly across all third-party platforms." Nilay Patel interviewed SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz for Decoder - there's a transcript here.

Speaking in a conference, SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said that while the ad market is "choppy", brands are still keen to enter podcasting. The company is helping brands that previouly just used Pandora to access audiences across SiriusXM (satellite radio) and podcasting.

Talent agency WME has signed the podcaster Ed Mylett. The Ed Mylett Show, from SiriusXM, was #88 in the Triton Digital US podcast ranker in April.

Gabriel Galaza is looking for full time or freelance opportunities within the podcast and YouTube marketing space. He writes: "I have 9 years of experience with video audience development and recently moved into podcast marketing. Most recently, I worked at SiriusXM marketing numerous Stitcher podcasts to increase audiences and downloads (The Fckry with Leslie Jones, How Did This Get Made? to name a few)."

Spotify is the #1 podcast network in the US for audience reach, according to Edison Podcast Metrics. SiriusXM is second, and iHeart is #3 for podcasts.

Among the other announcements at the IAB Podcast Upfronts in New York NY, USA: Sony Music Entertainment announced a growing slate including the addition of Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness to its network (from Earwolf/SiriusXM) … and Wondery and Bloomberg announced a mini-series focusing on the FTX crypto scandal, and Sam Bankman-Fried's part in it. (Available "on Wondery+ and the Bloomberg Terminal" from May 22).

Audacy published its Q1/23 financials. Excluding the loss of Crooked Media (which switched to SiriusXM in May), podcast revenues would have been up 14%; but they fell in real terms (the company didn't say by how much). However, locally-produced podcasts are the most profitable part of the business, the company said.

The Podcast Academy has announced the association's 2023-2024 Officers. Donald Albright (Tenderfoot TV) continues as Chairperson; Christy Mirabal (SiriusXM) continues as Vice-Chairperson. New as Secretary is Martha C Little (Audible), replacing Alia Tavakolian; the new treasurer is Sierra Reed (Vision Media Partners), replacing Rob Greenlee.

SiriusXM released its Q1/23 financials. Podcast revenue was up by 34% (though overall revenue declined by 2%). Cumulus Media also released their Q1/23 financials. Digital revenue (including podcast ads) was up by 23% (though total revenue slumped 12%).

SiriusXM has renewed an agreement with the Oprah Winfrey Network's slate of podcasts.

Triton Digital's US Podcast Ranker for March is out. SiriusXM is still #1 network; NPR News Now is still #1 podcast. It measures participating publishers only.

SiriusXM's AdsWizz will continue as SoundCloud's sole sales partner in mainland Europe until the end of next year.

Podtrac measures participating publishers only, and doesn't measure either Spotify's podcast studios nor SiriusXM.

Thomas Barry is the new CFO of SiriusXM. He's been with the company since 2009. He replaces Sean Sullivan, who leaves on Apr 28.

New deals: SiriusXM shows are to be represented in New Zealand by media company NZME, after NZME signed a deal with AdsWizz … Voiceworks Sport has partnered with Veritonic to offer attribution for advertising on the Sport Social Podcast Network.

Adam Schein has signed a new four-year deal with SiriusXM. He'll continue hosting the Rise and Schein podcast, as well as a three-hour daily show on SiriusXM radio.

Audacy released financial results. Podcasting revenue was down 8% y/y. Excluding the loss of Crooked Media (which switched to SiriusXM in May), revenues would have been up 14%. The company claims 9% increase in Q4 downloads.

Adam Sachs, who joined SiriusXM through the acquisition of Team Coco, is taking on an expanded role as Senior Vice President of Entertainment, Comedy, and Podcasts Programming for SiriusXM. This is a newly created role that brings together Podcasts with Entertainment & Comedy programming for the first time.

SiriusXM is to make 475 people redundant, representing 8% of their workforce. A note from CEO Jennifer Witz was shared with staff. Blaming economic uncertainty, the note says that "nearly every department across SiriusXM will be impacted".

SiriusXM has been downgraded by investment firm Rosenblatt Securities: but it's related to the impact of a slower car sales market on SiriusXM's radio product.

The SiriusXM Podcast Network remains #1 in the latest data from Edison Podcast Metrics for the US. The Acast Creator Network is new at #9.

SiriusXM is still number one for podcasting, according to iHeart-owned Triton Digital. The January podcast ranker for the US also has a brand new #1 show - NPR News Now, which has overtaken Crime Junkie. The ranker measures participating publishers only.

The Australian Podcast Ranker for January was released. SCA's LiSTNR claims number one, while ARN's iHeartPodnews Network Australia also claims number one. SiriusXM (represented by LiSTNR) reached #2 in the publisher list, despite making no shows in the country.

"First-Look Deals Emerge In Podcasting" says Deadline, reporting that "first-look deals - common in TV and film - are coming to podcasting" in a story about Campside Media signing three first-look deals. They're hardly new to our industry, though: among others, Podnews has covered first-look deals between Sky and Tortoise, Audible and First Produce, SiriusXM and Audio Up, Kudos and What's The Story?, UCP Media and iHeart, Parcast and Noiser, and Goldfinch and Stakhanov.

Exclusive: You'll spot a new name at the top of future Triton Digital and Edison Podcast Metrics reports: "SiriusXM Podcast Network". Previously, the company was listed as "Stitcher Media" or "SXM Media", but we're told they "saw an opportunity to unify our naming conventions across these trackers in order to improve SiriusXM's overall brand equity and recognition in the industry, and raise awareness and understanding of our robust podcast content network."

SiriusXM released its financial results for 2022. Off-platform ad revenue was up 34% to $475mn for the year, "with podcasting driving most of this growth". Overall results for the company were mixed; Pandora saw 9% fewer monthly active users.

Available: Jake Allegro most recently was Kevin Hart’s Producer for his podcast and channel for SiriusXM. He's looking for a new role either in a remote setting or in London or the EU.

Where's the oddest place you've had an interview? Sauna Sessions, new today, features filmmaker, speaker and curator Prince EA joined by special guests in an infrared sauna to have longform conversations focused on the mind, body and spirit. “As we detox our bodies we will also detoxify the BS in the world and get to the truth about how our audience can REALLY be healthy, happy and connected.”

Exclusive: Paul Riismandel has joined Signal Hill Insights as the company's Chief Insights Officer. One of the first researchers in podcasting advertising, Riismandel had worked with Midroll Media (acquired by SiriusXM/Pandora) since 2014, working on hundreds of ad effectiveness studies. He's written a blog post for his new employer, highlighting the benefit of third-party research.

LeVar good news: At a session at CES, LeVar Burton unveiled his first children's podcast. Sound Detectives will be launched in Q2 by SiriusXM's Sticher.

Paul Riismandel has left his role as Senior Director of Insights at SiriusXM. He's worked for the company for nearly nine years. "Exciting new things start Jan 2", he posts.

The creators of How Did This Get Made? have signed a further deal with SiriusXM, Earwolf and Stitcher. The multi-year extensions are to this main show, which started in 2010 and has had 40 million downloads so far, and the companion series Unspooled.

SXM Media is truly out of this world - the company's owner, SiriusXM, has just ordered the company's 12th and 13th satellites from Maxar - that's them above.

Serena Regan is her replacement at Archewell. She joins from Cadence13 and SiriusXM.

Bloomberg reports that SiriusXM is to cut staff, after impact from a slow-down in new car sales. NPR is avoiding layoffs after a revenue fall, according to a report from the company, but has implemented a near-freeze on hiring.

Taylor Kirch has been announced as Director of Product Management at Libsyn. She joins from Pandora and SiriusXM.

Team Coco, the Conan O'Brien-led podcast network, is to launch a comedy channel on satellite radio service SiriusXM.

SiriusXM saw $123m in revenue from podcasting in Q3/22, an increase of 37% year-on-year, and 5.3% of the company's total revenue.

SiriusXM has signed an exclusive agreement with The Rachel Hollis Podcast for distribution and ad representation. The show includes candid interviews with top performers in business, media, and lifestyle, as well as deep dives into topics like health and motivation.

Pod Save America has a special guest of President Barack Obama in its next episode. He last appeared two years ago, before Trump lost the election, and before the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol Building.

SiriusXM is to open new, state of the art studios in Miami FL, with a 50-seat performance space. It also owns studios in West Hollywood CA, New York City NY, Washington DC and Nashville TN.

Hot on the heels of an agreement with Stitcher and SiriusXM, SCA's LiSTNR has announced that it will also exclusively represent Wondery's podcasts in Australia.

The Mel Robbins Podcast launches today. The motivational audio creator and international best-selling author has signed a multi-year deal with SiriusXM which gives SXM Media exclusive global ad sales rights.

In Australia, SCA's LiSTNR has announced an agreement to represent Stitcher and SiriusXM inventory in the country. This will increase LiSTNR's monthly podcast reach by 81%.

Passport to Everywhere with Melissa Biggs Bradley is new from SiriusXM, talking with passionate travelers, thought leaders, innovators, tastemakers and hoteliers from around the world. It's broadcast on Business Radio, then made available afterwards as a podcast.

SiriusXM has signed an exclusive agreement with the Lewis Howes podcast The School of Greatness.

Allyson Marino is now Sr Director of Revenue Partnerships at SiriusXM. She moves from iHeartMedia, where she was Podcast Slate Lead.

Conan O'Brien is to get a channel on SiriusXM, according to the company's CEO. She was speaking at a Bank of America conference.

Actor James Van Der Beek is suing SiriusXM after the company apparently backed out of a $700,000 podcast deal.

Got SiriusXM in your car? You might now have access to Stitcher Premium too: it now comes bundled into the SiriusXM Platinum Plan.

Exclusive: Back in Dec 2021, SiriusXM were sued by the National Association of the Deaf and Disability Rights Activists, for not providing podcast transcripts. Almost eight months later, lawyers acting on behalf of SiriusXM have responded with an aggressively-worded 32-page document, which Podnews has obtained, calling the filing "unnecessary", a "public assault", and "a cudgel to tarnish responsible companies". The request for transcripts for all shows on the platform is "misplaced and completely unreasonable"; and the whole filing is just "a public relations campaign".

Podtrac reports a drop in podcast consumption for many of the biggest networks in July. The data, which excludes Spotify and SiriusXM among others, claims iHeartRadio is #1 for podcasts.

SiriusXM and Comscore have expanded their agreement, bringing Comscore Predictive Audiences to clients across both AdsWizz and SXM Media. This will allow advertisers to target audio ads to consumers based on their TV and streaming consumption, gaming habits and life stage - it's being promoted as being "cookie-free".

Brad Tirpak, Libsyn's CEO, will be speaking at the Credit Suisse 24th Annual Communications Conference on Wednesday. He'll be taking part in a virtual panel discussion on podcasting from 8.45am. Tomorrow, SiriusXM's Jennifer Witz at 12.45pm (listen).

Quentin Tarantino is to host a podcast, alongside Roger Avary, with SiriusXM's Stitcher. "The Video Archives Podcast" will launch in July.

The US's largest podcast publisher SiriusXM has acquired podcast producer Team Coco, and its podcast Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend. Conan has entered into a five year talent agreement with the company. The Wall Street Journal reports the deal is valued at $150m.

Marissa Rives has been promoted to Director of Sports Podcasts at SiriusXM. It's her twelfth year with the company; she was PD of the Fight Nation, a combat sports channel.

SiriusXM and Audio Up have announced two new original scripted podcasts. Stars and creators of the shows will also appear throughout SiriusXM programming. SiriusXM has also signed an unlicensed lizard psychologist, Therapy Gecko.

SiriusXM has signed a content deal with I Am Athlete, an athlete-led media network. The agreement will mean SXM Media will have exclusive ad representation, while I Am Athlete will get a new nightly show on SiriusXM's Mad Dog Sports Radio channel.

Spotify has done an exclusive ad deal with The Fantasy Footballers, pulling it away from last year's deal with Audioboom. The podcast also had a deal with SiriusXM for a live show, which no longer appears on their schedule. The deal also signs them up for additional shows on Spotify Greenroom Live, extending a deal done in August. The podcast isn't going to be a Spotify exclusive.

Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show! launches today - the newest original scripted podcast from Marvel Entertainment and SiriusXM. Milana Vayntrub stars as Squirrel Girl, helping people navigate AT&T's mobile plans save New York City from certain destruction. It's produced by Radio Point.

Bleav Podcast network, and the Los Angeles Times, have both switched from Amazon's ART19 to SiriusXM's Simplecast.

Freakonomics Radio is to become a radio station on SiriusXM. It's a streaming channel available to all subscribers of the platform; the shows continue wherever you listen to your podcasts.

In her last piece for The Verge, Ashley Carman writes "How SiriusXM bought and bungled" the podcast network Earwolf.

Pantheon Media and SiriusXM are working with cable TV executive Doug Herzog to tell the story of "the glory days and crazy world of cable TV" in a new podcast series. The series launches May 18.

Just 1.1% of active podcasts in 2021 had transcripts, according to new data; and far fewer for non-English shows. The transcript tag is a relatively simple part of the new podcast namespace, but in spite of accessibility laws in most countries mandating them, no podcast app with more than 1% of the market supports in-app transcripts. SiriusXM was sued in December last year for not supplying them.

Zachery Troutman has been named as Head of Podcasting for the Southwestern Family of Companies, one of the nation's oldest and largest private companies. Zachery was formerly the Operations Manager for Rural Radio, SiriusXM Channel 147.

SiriusXM has announced its latest exclusive distribution and sales agreement: this time with with reVolver Podcasts. SXM Media gets exclusive ad sales rights.

Last Podcast on the Left, which announced a switch from Spotify to SiriusXM/Stitcher last year, is launching its SiriusXM radio show today. Called Open Lines, the show invites listeners to open their mind to questions of the mysterious and the paranormal; it's tonight at 7pm ET on SiriusXM’s Faction Talk channel 103, a comedy and uncensored talk channel.

SiriusXM released its Q4/21 financial results. The "Pandora segment", which includes the company's podcasting, saw ad revenue increasing by 30% year-on-year.

How much did Amazon pay for My Favorite Murder? Bloomberg suggests the figure was $100m.. For that, Amazon got other Exactly Right Media Shows, too. Bloomberg's story also reports that SiriusXM's deal with Audiochuck was "worth nine figures".

Spotting an opportunity, US satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM has announced a Neil Young channel: Spotify removed Neil Young's music after the musician objected to Joe Rogan's views. Writing for Recode, Peter Kafka points out that no other music artist is following Young's lead; in The Verge, Ashley Carman writes that Joe Rogan is the lynchpin of Spotify's podcasting apparatus: advertising on the show is only available as part of a network buy across all of Spotify's podcasts.

Ron Gaskill is to join SiriusXM as Director of Communications, with particular focus on Stitcher podcasts. He moves from Blake Zidell & Associates.

Marvel’s Wastelanders: Black Widow launches today - a 10-episode scripted podcast starring Susan Sarandon as Helen Black. For a week, it's available exclusively on the SXM App and Marvel Podcasts Unlimited on Apple Podcasts; and then it is released more widely via RSS. - read more

Another day, another podcast deal for SiriusXM, which has signed with YMH Studios, the podcast network owned by Tom Segura and Christina P. The multi-year agreement integrates the YMH Studios staff into Stitcher, where they will continue to operate Your Mom's House and the rest of the network's slate. Shows will continue to be made available everywhere, and ad-free versions will be in Stitcher Premium.

In a test case with repercussions for the entire industry, SiriusXM is being sued for failing to provide podcast transcripts for deaf users by the National Association for the Deaf and the Disability Rights Advocates. We've a focused look at transcripts below.

Joe Inzerillo has joined SiriusXM as chief product and technology officer. He helped launch the Disney+ streaming service.

The Ed Mylett Show has signed with SiriusXM. He was hosting with Libsyn, and was independently represented.

Another high-profile podcast signing: SiriusXM has done a deal with Ashley Flowers' podcast network Audiochuck. Audiochuck was previously with AdLarge. SiriusXM has done a number of deals this month, including Rory and Mal, Last Podcast on the Left, and production company Audio Up. Through its ownership of Stitcher, the company is #1 for podcasts according to Triton Digital's US podcast ranker.

SiriusXM's Stitcher has signed Rory Farrell and Jamil 'MAL' Clay, to bring New Rory & MAL to their More Sauce network. It's the latest high-profile podcast signing from Stitcher. Not in the press release: any mention of Joe Budden, who fired the duo from his podcast in May.

Last Podcast On The Left has announced it's no longer to be a Spotify Exclusive show. They've signed with SiriusXM's Stitcher, and will be available in every podcast app, including Spotify, from Feb 1 2022; they'd been exclusive since Feb 2020.

SiriusXM has signed a first-look deal with podcast producer Audio Up for new scripted podcasts. Audio Up also announced it's completed a $12m funding round.

SiriusXM has launched a Marvel channel on Apple Podcasts Susbcriptions, with paid shows including a Spanish-language version of Wolverine, a documentary series, and new titles.

Simplecast founder and CEO Brad Smith has been promoted: he's been named Head of Podcast Products for SiriusXM. Simplecast was acquired by SiriusXM last year; SiriusXM also owns Pandora, Stitcher and Adswizz. Smith will be responsible for podcast strategy across platforms for creators and listeners. SiriusXM's CEO, Jennifer Witz, said on Monday that the company plans a broader set of podcasts available to Pandora listeners, and will continue to publish across multiple platforms, though also suggested some opportunities for exclusivity.

The latest celebrity-interview podcast host is Lucille Ball - 240 episodes of Let's Talk to Lucy will be broadcast on SiriusXM and then made available as podcasts. Interviews include Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Barbra Streisand and Mary Taylor-Moore.

The former hosts of The Nod, who last year wanted Spotify to "hand over their podcast", have signed with SiriusXM to relaunch their Black culture show For Colored Nerds. Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings were interviewed by The Verge about their battle for ownership of intellectual property.

Toxic: The Britney Spears Story has been downloaded over 550,000 times in the first three weeks, according to SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz in an earnings call.

Megyn Kelly is coming to podcasting, after signing an exclusive broadcasting agreement with SiriusXM.

Coinciding with a high-profile court case, Toxic: The Britney Spears Story is to debut on July 7, SiriusXM's Witness Docs has announced.

Dane Cardiel has joined Headgum/Gumball to become Vice President of Business Development. He was a founding member of Simplecast, which was purchased by SiriusXM 12 months ago. It's one of a series of high-profile management changes in the industry - more tomorrow.

Stitcher Media is the new #1 podcast publisher in the US, according to the latest Triton Digital US Podcast Report for the four weeks ending May 30. The company, owned by SiriusXM, beat NPR for both average weekly downloads and listeners. NPR News Now is still the #1 podcast, though. It's the first to be compiled to v2.1 of the IAB Podcast Technical Guidelines: the result is a reduction in average weekly users by around 5% for the top 5 publishers. The ranker measures participating publishers only; iHeartRadio owns Triton Digital, but it is not included in the ranker.

Comic-Con Begins is new from SiriusXM, covering the genesis of Comic-Con, the iconic annual comic book convention. Episode 1 drops on June 22 with additional episodes weekly; the whole series will be available instantly for SiriusXM subscribers.

SiriusXM is to distribute and represent five Sawdust Podcast Network shows.

Speaking at a JP Morgan conference, SiriusXM's CEO Jennifer Witz said that the company sees double-digit revenue growth in podcasting for years to come.

FAIR, a US media watchdog, warns about the new podcast oligopoly. They note the size of LibertyMedia, which owns SiriusXM and also 50% of iHeartRadio.

Stitcher's Midroll adsales has merged with Pandora and SiriusXM's sales teams. The new group is called SXM Media, and claims it has a reach of 150m listeners, which it calls "the largest digital audio advertising platform in North America".

Toxic: The Britney Spears Story is a new investigative documentary coming July from Witness Docs, a unit of SiriusXM's Stitcher.

Dr Laura's Call of the Day has reached 100 million downloads, it's been announced; the podcast was launched in 2017, and is taken from her popular SiriusXM radio show.

Q1/21 revenue is 5% up at SiriusXM, which owns AdsWizz, Simplecast, Stitcher and 99% Invisible. Revenue was boosted by Stitcher and AdsWizz revenue. Pandora has lost 8% of its monthly users over the past year, though.

SiriusXM has bought 99% Invisible Inc. The company, owned by Roman Mars, makes 99% Invisible and What Trump Can Teach Us About Constitutional Law. The podcast will remain free to everyone, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, someone's copied Gervais's exclusive shows off the SiriusXM app and put them onto Anchor, complete with a "support this piracy podcast" button. This isn't the first time.

Meanwhile, iHeartRadio's Inside Radio reports data from Edison Research's Share of Ear study (Q4 2020). That claims that podcast listening accounts for 6% of all audio consumption; radio (AM/FM and SiriusXM) takes almost eight times that (47%). There's plenty more space to grow.

Erik Diehn, the CEO of Stitcher is "winding down" to a new role as adviser to SiriusXM, who acquired Stitcher in October.

EW Scripps previously sold Stitcher to SiriusXM for $325m in July 2020. Stitcher and Midroll cost Scripps $54.5m in 2016.

SiriusXM has published their annual report. Their Pandora business (which includes AdsWizz, Stitcher and Simplecast) saw a 1% drop in ad revenue in 2020, and a drop of 2% for subscriber revenue.

Inside Jokes with Kevin Hart is new from SiriusXM. In the debut episode, Hart interviews Jerry Seinfeld.

SoundCloud has signed an ad sales agreement with AdsWizz for 14 European markets. (SiriusXM owns AdsWizz and Pandora, which sells SoundCloud ads in the US; SiriusXM also owns a minority stake in SoundCloud itself.)

SiriusXM is expected to say that their music and podcast streaming service Pandora is worth $1bn less, because of the impact of increasing music royalty costs: the company paid $3.5bn for it in February 2019. Pandora has also seen a decline in total users and ad revenue, while competitors like Spotify have grown considerably.

the last big piece of M&A activity in podcasting? It was certainly the largest company still available: but there will be more acquisitions on the horizon. In particular, Amazon lacks the long tail that a consumer podcast host can give them - just as Acast bought Pippa, Spotify bought Anchor and SiriusXM bought Simplecast, Amazon could own a host of its own as a way to reach other platforms and to incubate new talent. Amazon also lacks any podcasting ad-tech companies; ART19, which hosts a number of the largest podcasts in the world, remains privately-owned. Let's watch this space.

The Jason Ellis Show, from the radio announcer who spent fifteen years on SiriusXM, is new from Kast Media.

Things that other podcast companies don't have to worry about: launching a satellite. The SXM-7 satellite for SiriusXM weighs 7.7 tons and will work until 2036.

American shockjock Howard Stern has signed for a further five years with SiriusXM, who also retain rights to his archives for seven years. The word "podcast" is nowhere to be seen in the announcement.

SiriusXM is the New Destination for Original, Exclusive, and Popular Podcasts claims a press release, promoting new podcasts with Marvel Entertainment. (Marvel had a relationship with Stitcher, which we covered in 2018; then they signed with Pandora and SiriusXM in 2019). The company has also announced further exclusives.

SiriusXM has become "the exclusive advertising representative and end-to-end ad tech platform for a broad slate of NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC podcasts", says a press release. The agreement includes Stitcher, AdsWizz and Simplecast, which the company owns.

Small Good Thing is a new full-service podcast production and consulting company in the US. It's being run by Steve Lickteig, who has previously worked at NBC News, Slate, NPR and SiriusXM.

After its acquisition by SiriusXM earlier this year, the podcast app Stitcher is to get a redesign.

Stitcher is now officially owned by SiriusXM, after the purchase completed yesterday. As part of that, Stitcher's podcasts are now on Pandora.

US radio personality Howard Stern was apparently approached by Spotify, claims Bloomberg. His contract with SiriusXM seems close to renewal, however.

Scripps, who sold Stitcher to SiriusXM in July for $325m, has spent $2.65bn to buy Ion Media, a US TV broadcaster with 71 stations.

SiriusXM announces a new CEO and CFO. James E Meyer will retire at the end of this year to be replaced by Jennifer C Witz, who is currently the President of Sales, Marketing and Operations. Sean S Sullivan is appointed the new CFO; David J Frear is "pursuing other opportunities, effective immediately". The company owns Pandora, Simplecast and Stitcher.

SiriusXM's financial report for Q2 2020 has been released. The company owns Stitcher, Simplecast, Pandora and AdsWizz. The acquisition price for Simplecast, unreported at the time, was $28m.

Triton Digital have published their latest US Podcast Report. SiriusXM's Stitcher has overtaken Entercom's Cadence13 in the network ranker. For shows, the highest new entry is Stitcher's WTF with Marc Maron, at #32. Downloads (for the top 15 networks) are up 3.4% since the last report. The report measures participating publishers only.

Kinsider is a new media podcast hosted by Chris Peterson of Kindred Media. The first episode talks about recent mergers and acquisitions in podcasting - iHeart, Spotify, SiriusXM and Kim Kardashian West. Chris should know this space: he created and launched the iHeartPodcast Network, and worked at TuneIn.

It's official: Scripps has agreed to sell Stitcher to SiriusXM - the agreed price is $325m ($265m cash plus earnouts). Stitcher is a podcast advertising saleshouse, an original podcast studio, and an app.

Sirius XM is in advanced talks to buy Stitcher. SiriusXM owns Pandora, a US-only music service and podcast app), AdsWizz, a programmatic audio ads technology company, and Simplecast, a podcast host and analytics service, along with the US satellite radio service. Stitcher encompasses Midroll, a podcast advertising company selling ads for 350 shows, podcast production networks Stitcher Podcasts and Earwolf which make 50 shows, and a podcast app.

SiriusXM has acquired podcast host Simplecast. Simplecast says nothing changes for their current customers. No terms were given.

FOX News has added their podcasts to SiriusXM's Pandora, they have announced. SiriusXM is also broadcasting the FOX News Rundown on one of its satellite radio channels.

Listeners to Howard Stern, who did a similar deal with SiriusXM: fewer than 1,000,000. Estimated listeners to each podcast from Joe Rogan: 11,000,000. (Andrew Wilkinson, TinyCapital)

SiriusXM, the owner of Pandora, has admitted in an earnings call that Pandora has "definitely seen a downturn in listening" but that it "has come back recently". "You can track the change and listening trend directly to commute [times]", said CFO David Frear. The company didn't mention Pandora's podcasting aspirations at all; Pandora itself has lost 8% of its monthly active users over the past year. Meanwhile, the company's star Howard Stern is open to ideas about what happens at the end of the year once his contract expires.

SiriusXM, which owns Pandora, have released a "2019 at a glance" statement. Monthly active users for Pandora have decreased. "There is more work to do to realize Pandora’s potential," says CEO Jim Meyer.

No Laying Up, a golf podcast, is now airing on SiriusXM, a satellite radio service. The podcast airs Monday, Thursday and Friday at 6.00pm ET on the Dan Patrick Radio channel.

SiriusXM, the owner of Pandora, has bought a minority stake in Soundcloud for $75m. Soundcloud is used by some podcasters as a podcast host: Pandora already sells advertising on SoundCloud in the US.

SiriusXM, which also owns Pandora and AdsWizz, has filed its annual report for 2019. Pandora has 6.2m paid subscribers and 63.5m monthly active users. Pandora brought in $1.6bn revenue ($1.1bn from advertising) although the company admit Pandora's number of monthly active users "has declined consistently for several years".

Thank you to our newest Gold Supporters, One of One Productions Studio, located just round the corner from NYC in Fort Lee NJ, USA. "We provide a comfortable space with broadcast quality sound that any podcaster will thrive in!" they tell us: they also work on shows for SiriusXM and their own podcasts too. You can be like them

"Most podcast advertising is very rudimentary and not personalized," said SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer on an earnings call. "Frankly, this area is ripe to be disrupted and improved." The company owns Pandora, which has seen a 5% increase in subscriber revenue.

SiriusXM and Pandora have signed a multi-year agreement with Marvel to produce podcasts featuring characters like Wolverine, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Star-Lord. Marvel podcasts have hitherto been produced by Stitcher Premium.

Amazon has announced new podcast integration for their Alexa smart speaker service. US users will now be able to ask for podcasts on Spotify - "Hey Alexa, play My Favorite Murder on Spotify" - as well as adding a preferred podcast setting so that you can pick your default podcast provider. If you listen to content through Spotify, SiriusXM or iHeartRadio, Alexa will sync progress between individual speakers, too. (Here's how to set up Spotify on Alexa).

The team behind The Fantasy Footballers are working with US satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM. A new live show featuring the hosts will go to air every Thursday on the Fantasy Sports Radio channel, and the podcast, which remains independent, will also be aired weeknights.

Pandora reckon that discoverability continues to be an issue for podcasting. Speaking in an investor call, the owner of Pandora, SiriusXM's CEO Jim Meyer, says that podcasting is "like a flea market," and that content "is up there, but nobody can find it easily". "Right now, it seems to be a race as who can put the most stuff up," he also said, "which personally, I don't believe is what is going to win." Pandora currently lists 3,000 podcasts (including Podnews).

Meanwhile, social media audio sharing company Headliner has signed a deal with SiriusXM, the North American satellite radio company.

This figure includes branded content, but doesn't include Patreon-like revenue from supporters, revenue from live shows, or personal branding. For comparison, BIA Kelsey estimate US terrestrial commercial radio to have earned $14.2bn in 2018; SiriusXM satellite radio earnt a further $5.8bn.

Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend recently interviewed Howard Stern. He reflects that rules and regulations, as he had on radio, give structure, discipline and tension: removing those rules dramatically changes things, as he found when moving to SiriusXM (but also valid for podcasting). (Team Coco / Earwolf / ART19)

SiriusXM is now packaging talk shows as podcasts, exclusive to Pandora (who they own).

In the US - a little snippet of interesting news from the latest Nielsen data (p14): more people listen to podcasting per week (19%) than listen to SiriusXM (16%). (The figures are from Q3 2018 - there's been more growth since).

SiriusXM, the US satellite radio operator and new owner of Pandora, plans original podcasts and shows for Pandora's podcast platform. More than twenty SiriusXM shows will also be reformatted into podcasts.

Crown Media, the owner of the Hallmark Channel TV network, is to launch a podcast on Dec 14. Last month it launched a radio channel on US satellite radio service SiriusXM.

Podcast app/host Anchor is producing a weekly show on SiriusXM, a satellite radio network in the US, called This Week on Anchor. It will feature podcasters from throughout the Anchor service.

Opie Radio, a return for former SiriusXM radio presenter Gregg 'Opie' Hughes, on the Westwood One Podcast Network.

iHeartMedia are expected to file for bankruptcy over the weekend, suggests a Bloomberg report. Tom Taylor Now, a respected radio industry newsletter, also says the board has also just approved big bonus payments for some top executives at the same time as the company is slashing commission paid to its salespeople. Liberty Media, majority owner of SiriusXM, Virgin Media, Formula One and minority shareholder of Pandora, wants 40% of iHeartMedia.

Ricky Gervais to join SiriusXM (and gain a new podcast). "SiriusXM promises Gervais will have thought-provoking discussions about the topics he feels the most passionate about, namely music, science, art, and ethics."

Edison Research releases Share of Ear: Canada. Podcasts get 3% of "audio time"; radio (AM/FM/HD/IP/SiriusXM) gets 65%. (When comparing podcast v radio, remember podcasts finish, and radio doesn't.)