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April 8, 2024:
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In Australia, the ABC has appointed Tim Roxburgh as EP of True Crime Podcasts; Rachael Brown as Development Executive, True Crime; and Joel Werner as Executive Producer in Audio Studios (returning from Gimlet).
March 6, 2024:
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Violence. Retaliation. Disappearances. Spotify's Stolen has returned for its third season, Trouble in Sweetwater, this week. The Navajo Nation is 27,000 square miles of remote terrain with just over 200 tribal police officers. Connie Walker looks into the cases of two missing women, taking her on a search for justice in a place where people say you can get away with murder. The first season made history last year when it won a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award in the same year. Notably, it's lost its Gimlet branding.
March 1, 2024:
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Yesterday evening, Gimlet, Parcast and Ringer Unions appeared to have failed to have reached a deal with Spotify management. Ringer Union claims 86% of their members are ready to walk out, while 100% of Gimlet’s team are.
January 29, 2024:
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The Gimlet Union reports that Spotify management are not participating in contract discussions. The Ringer Union “has made notable progress” on its negotations though, but differences remain.
January 26, 2024:
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Spotify announced “time-synched transcripts for more podcasts on the platform” at the end of September. While you can opt-in to this process within Spotify for Podcasters (and we have), we can only find it active for a few Gimlet shows. Podcasters can’t edit transcripts or supply their own.
January 24, 2024:
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Nicole Beemsterboer has been hired as Executive Producer of Bloomberg’s Big Take DC. She joins from Gimlet Media, where she was Managing Director.
January 4, 2024:
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The Podglomerate has hired Katelyn Bogucki as Lead Producer. She was previously executive producer of Gimlet Media’s Archetypes.
December 6, 2023:
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Lydia Polgreen, the former managing director of Gimlet Media, has criticised Spotify for cancelling Heavyweight and Stolen. “If you can't make a go of it with these incredible shows you are simply bad at podcasting,” she wrote on Threads. She’s since deleted the post. Meanwhile, Dan Le Batard, a sports podcast host, claims that Spotify is “junking up the numbers”, and “the numbers are jerryrigged”, after a conspiracy theory from a fan that Spotify is deliberately holding back sports shows that aren’t from The Ringer.
December 1, 2023:
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Collin Campbell has been named as Senior Vice President of Podcasting Strategy and Franchise Development at NPR. He will start in December and be based at NPR West in Culver City; he joins from Gimlet Media (and before that, Audible).
September 8, 2023:
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Edison Research released the shows with a highest concentration of listeners in households earning $100,000+. Gimlet and The Wall Street Journal's The Journal is #1.
September 5, 2023:
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The financials behind Spotify's podcast strategy is the subject of a deep-dive in the Wall Street Journal. We learn some shows cost up to $250,000 per episode during Dawn Ostroff's time at the company; that Science Vs has seen its audience doubling and listening hours increasing by 60% since no longer being exclusive; and that Trevor Noah is earning $4mn in a deal that is more equitable for the company.
July 11, 2023:
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Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel returns today with Vox Media, as the show turns to 'always-on'. The show joined Vox Media earlier in the year, after being a Spotify exclusive with Gimlet since 2019. It's being produced by Magnificent Noise.
June 20, 2023:
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On our story on Meghan Markle's Archetypes, which was produced by Archewell and Gimlet: Andy Scott, a former Gimlet staffer, tweets: "We did occasionally have producers do interviews, though never the main ones, and we never edited her asking questions into interviews that producers conducted."
June 6, 2023:
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Spotify is to cut 200 jobs from its podcasting division. The company says that's 2% of Spotify's global workforce; but these are substantial cuts to the podcast division. While Spotify couldn't tell us how many staff work in podcasting overall, various reports suggest Gimlet has around 125 employees, Parcast has about 40, and The Ringer about 120.
May 10, 2023:
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The winners of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize were announced. Winners included Gimlet's Stolen: Surviving St. Michael's. It is the first podcast series to win both a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award in the same year.
April 18, 2023:
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Spotify is stopping platform exclusivity for some of its Gimlet shows, according to a report. "We are expanding our windowing strategies to increase the audiences and ad sales potential of our shows," a spokesperson told Semafor.
April 6, 2023:
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In Los Angeles CA, USA, Entropy Media has been launched by Hollywood executive Anjay Nagpal, working with talent from Gimlet, Serial Productions, VICE, and Wondery. We've the video trailer for their first release, Brokers, Bagmen, and Moles.
March 28, 2023:
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A subject of Spotify and Gimlet's Conviction, Melvin Quinney, has been exonerated, three years after the podcast's second season premiered.
March 15, 2023:
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Devon Taylor has been made Senior Editor of The Daily from The New York Times. She joins from Spotify's Gimlet: "I'm very excited to join this extremely talented team and dive headfirst into the world of daily news," she tweets.
March 14, 2023:
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Spotify has lost another exclusive podcast. Where Should We Begin, with Esther Perel, which became a Spotify Original produced by Gimlet in 2019. The show has found a new home at Vox Media. It will become a weekly, always-on show from Q3. The company laid off 7% of its staff in a cost-cutting move in January.
February 16, 2023:
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Stuck with Damon Young returns with more off-the-cuff conversations inspired by today’s most culturally relevant headlines and round ups of Damon-approved listener-submitted questions. In the first episode of season 2, “Girls Trip” and “Scary Movie 5” director and filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee joins Damon to recount Super Bowl weekend. It's a Spotify exclusive from Gimlet.
December 22, 2022:
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It's the season finale for the seventh season of Heavyweight today. The show is produced by Spotify's Gimlet, and the last episode of the season will hear the story of an unlucky branch of the Elliott family seeking to lift a curse placed on them by the Archbishop of Glasgow in 1525.
December 14, 2022:
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The Journal., a podcast from the Wall Street Journal and Gimlet, has premiered the special miniseries “Uncontrolled Substances: The Cerebral Story” - examining the story of how a buzzy Silicon Valley start-up, Cerebral, tried to fix the mental healthcare industry and how it spun out of control. A four-episode miniseries, it comes out weekly every Friday.
November 22, 2022:
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Quiet Part Loud, a Spotify/Gimlet podcast, had some digital billboard advertising outside Penn Station.
November 17, 2022:
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Abbie Ruzicka and Frances Harlow are co-founders of Arcana Audio, a new podcast production services and consulting company based in the US and Sweden. They both worked for Gimlet Media.
November 11, 2022:
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At end of an era at podcast production company Gimlet - Alex Blumberg, the co-founder of the company, left Spotify last month, it's emerged.
October 26, 2022:
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Annie-Rose Strasser has joined the New York Times as Executive Producer of Opinion Audio. She was with Buzzfeed and Gimlet, and ran The Journal.
October 25, 2022:
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Case 63 launched today on Spotify. The series features the voices of Academy and Emmy Award-winning actor Julianne Moore and Golden Globe-winning actor Oscar Isaac. It follows a New York psychiatrist who begins treating a patient registered as Case 63 who claims to be from the year 2062. What begins as routine therapeutic sessions quickly turns into a story that threatens the boundaries of the possible and the real. The series is produced by Spotify’s Gimlet studios, Moore’s production company FortySixty, and Isaac’s Mad Gene Media.
October 14, 2022:
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The spotlight is focusing on Spotify's podcasting business. Skye Pillsbury has published "an oral history of Gimlet's slow demise" after interviewing five current and former Gimlet staffers. Ariel Shapiro takes a look at Spotify’s practice of making its podcasts exclusive, and also notes that The Ringer didn't make any layoffs. Ashley Carman suggests that Spotify is refining its strategy.
October 11, 2022:
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Sarah McVeigh is joining Schwartz Media as head of its audio division. She joins from Gimlet and the ABC in Australia.
October 10, 2022:
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The Gimlet Union and Parcast Union have tweeted a statement about the 38 layoffs across Spotify. They say that some shows lost as much as three-quarters of their audience when going exclusive; and that employees were given as little as an hour to close out their work and leave. Parcast Union has tweeted some of its members who are now available for hire.
October 7, 2022:
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Spotify is cancelling eleven of its original shows, says The Hollywood Reporter. Those cancelled represent less than 2% of Spotify's more than 500 original podcasts; but it's likely to result in "less than 5% of Spotify's staff on original podcasts" being laid off. If you're hiring, Connor Sampson has volunteered to connect you. Spotify didn't respond to an invitation to comment.
September 14, 2022:
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Spotify is the top podcast network in the US based on reach, according to new data from Edison Research. The data measures total listeners to shows from each podcast publisher for the 12 months ending June 30 2022. Spotify's numbers include Spotify Originals, as well as shows from The Ringer, Gimlet, Parcast and others. iHeartRadio remains in third place, behind SXM Media.
August 26, 2022:
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Small Talk is Dead is new this week from Spotify's Gimlet. A limited series from three producers from the company's Sound Up program, the show explores the rules around race, gender, and money.
August 24, 2022:
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Spotify and Archewell Audio have released the highly anticipated original podcast series Archetypes, with Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. The first episode and trailer are available now; the show is produced by Gimlet.
August 16, 2022:
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The Pitch is to return this November, as an independent show. Host Josh Muccio has bought his show from Spotify's Gimlet; it last released shows in Dec 2020.
July 12, 2022:
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Kevin Turner has started at Linktree as VP of Communications. He was Spotify's Global Head of Creator Communications (and before that, Global Head of Podcast Communications); and had worked for Spotify and Gimlet for six years.
May 20, 2022:
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More people are leaving Gimlet: and this time it's Reply All hosts Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi. It's unclear if the show will continue. "This iteration of Reply All will be ending in late June", the company tweeted. PJ Vogt and Sruthi Pinnamaneni left in Feb 2021 after allegations were made against them.
May 17, 2022:
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Stolen: Surviving St Michael's is new from Gimlet and acclaimed investigative journalist Connie Walker. It focuses on a dark part of Canada's past - the residential school system for Indigenous children.
May 13, 2022:
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Matt Lieber, Gimlet's co-founder, is to leave the company this summer, says Bloomberg.
May 6, 2022:
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Gimlet's union reports three layoffs at the company.
May 2, 2022:
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Winners of CrimeCon’s first annual CLUE Awards were announced in Las Vegas. Gimlet's Stolen: The Search For Jermain, and CBC Podcasts' Carrie Low Vs, were podcast winners; we list all the winners, nominations and categories.
April 22, 2022:
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Austin Mitchell has been hired as Creative Director at Novel. He was Senior Audio Producer at The New York Times, making The Daily, and was previously at Gimlet.
April 21, 2022:
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The nominations have been announced for the CrimeCon CLUE Awards. Podcast nominations are Body Bags (CrimeOnline and iHeartPodcasts), Crime Show (Spotify's Gimlet), Disappearances (Spotify's Parcast), My Life of Crime (CBS News Radio), and Stolen: The Search for Jermain (Spotify's Gimlet). The awards will take place on Saturday Apr 30 in the Paris Las Vegas Hotel, in the library, with a lead pipe.
April 11, 2022:
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Lydia Polgreen is to join The New York Times as an Opinion columnist. She had been Managing Director for Spotify's Gimlet.
February 22, 2022:
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In the new season of Gimlet's Conviction, released today - nobody seems to know what happened to Nuseiba Hasan. She’s a Jordanian-Canadian woman, who, in 2006, suddenly vanished without a trace. That is until someone from her past resurfaced, searching for justice. For the last three years, investigative journalist Habiba Nosheen has been trying to find out what happened to Nuseiba. But some people want the truth to stay hidden.
February 1, 2022:
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Rogan takes information out of context and gives a skewed and inaccurate view, a forthcoming of Science Vs will say. Gimlet's Wendy Zukerman and Blythe Terrell say they will no longer make the podcast, excepting episodes "intended to counter misinformation being spread on Spotify", adding that Spotify's support of Rogan feels like a "slap in the face". (Spotify owns Gimlet).
January 28, 2022:
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Nicole Beemsterboer is to leave NPR and join Gimlet as Head of News and Knowledge, HotPod Insider reports.
January 27, 2022:
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The Sun claims an exclusive that Spotify is to take Harry and Meghan's $25m podcast project "into their own hands" by hiring a host of in-house producers to "finally deliver their content". Their source appears to be this job posting at Gimlet, which says "we’re currently assembling a show team that will build and launch a new original show with Archewell featuring the voices of high profile women" (not sure that's Harry). In July, Archewell hired Rebecca Sananes as Head of Audio, reporting to Ben Browning, Archewell's Head of Content. Content from Archewell was promised in 2021, but it's not the only missing Spotify show.
January 12, 2022:
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Spotify has shut down its original podcasting studio, known internally as Studio 4. 15 people will be either moved to other roles or made redundant. Described as a "junk drawer" by one staffer, the division produced the shows that weren't produced by Gimlet, Parcast or The Ringer (which Spotify purchased later). Shows don't appear to be cancelled.
January 5, 2022:
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Rikki Novetsky also joins The Daily as a producer. She joins from Gimlet Media's The Journal.
December 22, 2021:
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Ten Percent Happier is expanding to launch its own podcast studio, developing a wide range of shows that will explore the intersection of everyday life and mindfulness. The new podcast studio has launched under the leadership of Jen Poyant (ex WNYC Studios and Stable Genius Productions) and Kimmie Regler (Gimlet Media), and is to launch three new shows in the next six months.
December 10, 2021:
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At iHeartRadio, podcast producers, editors, researchers, writers and hosts are unionising with the Writers Guild of America, East. The iHeart Podcast Union was launched yesterday; the website contains many concerns about working conditions. Saying that they "have been encouraged to embrace the dynamism of start-up culture without any of the associated benefits", the union says "iHeartMedia's overall compensation and benefits standards are wholly insufficient when compared to the greater podcast and scripted audio market". The union has support from around 70% of employees, we're told. The union hopes that iHeart will voluntarily recognise it; it's the latest unionising activity in the podcast space after Gimlet, Parcast, The Ringer, and others.
October 26, 2021:
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Rachel Humphreys is moving to the US to become Senior Producer for The Journal, the WSJ/Gimlet co-production. She had been a producer and presenter at The Guardian's Today In Focus.
October 6, 2021:
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Heavyweight is the latest Gimlet show to become a platform exclusive on Spotify. You'll hear an announcement if you're hearing the show anywhere else - it goes exclusive in November.
September 28, 2021:
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Exclusive to Spotify, Gimlet, Crooked Media and A24 tells the story of Jason Rezaian, a high-profile foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, who spent 544 Days imprisoned by Iranian authorities. The podcast launched today.
September 2, 2021:
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Spotify is now producing the audio section of US airline Delta's in-flight seatback entertainment. The service contains mixtapes of music, and 42 podcast series including Gimlet's Science Vs, The Ringer's The Dave Chang Show and WSJ/Gimlet's The Journal, as well as Crime Junkie (which isn't a Spotify show). Spotify's original deal with Delta was announced two years ago: at that time it was podcast-only, and Delta was seeing around 16.5m passengers every month; JetBlue also signed with Spotify in November 2019. Podcasts are also on other airlines.
September 1, 2021:
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Gimlet's Resistance returns for a second season, starting with a live show recorded at the Tribeca Festival earlier this summer, honoring lesser-known Civil Rights heroes. The podcast, hosted by Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr., brings a fresh perspective from those on the frontlines of the ongoing fight for racial justice.
August 24, 2021:
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How's podcasting doing for Spotify? Internal Spotify podcast consumption data has been leaked to Business Insider. It says that in September 2020, 331.8m hours of podcasts were listened-to on Spotify; 18.7% of that was made by Spotify. But, shows from Spotify's Gimlet (bought for $230m) account for just 0.4% of all podcast listening.
July 27, 2021:
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Spotify has announced "The Final Chapters of Richard Brown Winters", a 90-minute "feature-length" fiction podcast, from Gimlet.
June 23, 2021:
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Renita Jablonski has been named Director of Audio at the Washington Post. She joins from NPR and Gimlet, where she was once Editor of The Journal, the WaPo's daily news podcast.
June 18, 2021:
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Gimlet's Mogul is back for season three, turning its focus to one of the earliest hip hop pioneers in Houston, DJ Screw. The new episodes drop June 23.
June 14, 2021:
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Gimlet's Chompers, a podcast to help kids clean their teeth, is to become a Spotify exclusive on July 1.
June 3, 2021:
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Not Past It was launched yesterday by Gimlet and Spotify: a new weekly history podcast, diving into a moment from this very week in history and how it shaped our lives today. It's hosted by Simone Polanen.
April 30, 2021:
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Reply All has returned; but it's a mini episode all about the controversial work environment at Gimlet Media. It returns properly in June.
April 9, 2021:
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The writers and producers at Spotify's Gimlet Media and Spotify's The Ringer, two of the first podcast production companies to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), both ratified their first collective bargaining agreements. The agreements mean, among other things, increases for salary minimums and a limit to the use of contractors; and should set a template for others.
March 12, 2021:
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Josh Lindgren has been promoted to be head of talent agency CAA's podcasting department. The company represents everyone from Gimlet to Lemonada Media.
March 8, 2021:
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More unsavoury stories from Gimlet Media: this time from The Mystery Show's Starlee Kine. "Power and money was given to the wrong, oh so predictable archetypes and they wreaked white male mediocrity accordingly."
March 4, 2021:
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James T Green was a contractor at Gimlet Media between 2015-2018. He writes about his not-so-great time there.
February 19, 2021:
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PJ Vogt and Sruthi Pinnamaneni have left Gimlet Media's Reply All. Eric Eddings, former host of Gimlet’s The Nod podcast, accused the two of working against efforts to diversify Gimlet's staff and content. Vogt has apologised, saying he had behaved "like a baby and a jerk"; Pinnamaneni said "I feel great regret". Gimlet Managing Director Lydia Polgreen said, in a staff email, "From the moment I arrived at Gimlet, it was clear that our culture needed work, and that there were big things that needed to change to make this a better, more equitable place".
February 8, 2021:
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Nathan Baschez, formerly at Gimlet, writes a "post-mortem for social podcast discovery".
February 3, 2021:
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Back for a new season, Gimlet/Spotify's Resistance tells the story of Keith Davis Jr, in prison since 2015 for crimes he says he didn't do: the show focuses on his enduring relationship with his partner.
January 27, 2021:
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Welcome to your fantasy is the latest Spotify Original true-crime podcast. It's produced by Pineapple Street and Gimlet, focusing on the Chippendales, and corruption, and murder; and launches on February 10.
January 22, 2021:
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Ava DuVernay, a US filmmaker, has signed with Spotify's Gimlet to produce podcasts. Of note: the new closing line on this press release: "All podcasts on Spotify, including those exclusive titles stemming from this partnership, are available for free."
December 15, 2020:
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Union members at Spotify's Gimlet, Parcast and The Ringer stopped work for two hours on Friday protesting the slow pace of agreeing a contract with the company.
December 4, 2020:
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Spotify have published their 2020 Podcast Hall of Fame, a podcast playlist with hand-picked episodes showcasing the best of 2020. Expect some of the best episodes from ReplyAll, 99% Invisible, WTF, Miley Cyrus on Call Her Daddy, Gimlet's Resistance, and a curious absence of anything from Joe Rogan (who has a new logo! Kind of).
November 20, 2020:
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Lydia Polgreen from Gimlet spoke to Recode's Peter Kafka about Spotify's plans to get podcasts in front of more of their users.
November 9, 2020:
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We reported that Wondery was up for sale on September 28. Bloomberg report that both Apple and Sony have held talks; Spotify isn't apparently interested. The asking price is between $300m-$400m; significantly more than Spotify paid for Gimlet.
October 9, 2020:
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Spotify has voluntarily recognised the Parcast Union. The organisation will collaborate with unions at Ringer and Gimlet. (Spotify Studios are not unionised).
September 3, 2020:
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Spotify-owned Parcast is unionizing, reports The Verge. Spotify has voluntarily recognised Gimlet, and is negotiating with The Ringer's union.
August 4, 2020:
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Here's what else you need to know today - The New York Times has announced its Opinion Audio team: Kathy Tu (WNYC), Isaac Jones (WNYC), Olivia Natt (Magnificent Noise, Gimlet), Heba Elorbany (Buzzfeed, iHeartRadio), Vishakha Darbha (The Atlantic), Alison Bruzek (KUOW), Adam Teicholz (WNYC) and Christina Ayele Djossa (WNYC).
July 15, 2020:
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Yesterday we reported on the Jones vs Gimlet class action lawsuit, which highlights the need for better accessibility for podcasts. Our Editor, writing personally, looks at the detail of what the lawsuit is asking for.
July 14, 2020:
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Spotify's Gimlet Media is being sued for failing to make its podcasts accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing. The New York lawsuit argues that Gimlet violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide closed captioning on various podcasts.
July 2, 2020:
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As we reported last week, the hosts of The Nod "want Spotify to hand over their podcast", according to a story in The Verge, which highlights other podcasters in the same boat. They were Gimlet employees when they pitched the show.
June 30, 2020:
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Gimlet and Spotify have adapted their scripted series Sandra for a set of new markets. Sara (in France), Susi (in Germany), Sonia (in Mexico) and Sofia (in Brazil) claim they are "the first truly localised adaptations ever made of a hit fictional podcast". While Wondery's Dr Death was first to produce translated versions, Spotify are making these adaptations in the countries themselves, and adapting for "culture and nuance". Episodes drop July 7.
June 25, 2020:
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From Gimlet, the latest episode of Science Vs has a return guest: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, giving an update on the spread of the pandemic in the US.
June 19, 2020:
Thank you to podcast editor and voiceover Harlie who became our 14,000th subscriber today, joining new subscribers this week from Spotify, NOVA Entertainment, Condé Nast, Megaphone, Simplecast and Gimlet Media among many others.
June 18, 2020:
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Analysis: The podcast market appears to be horizontally consolidating. SiriusXM already owns Pandora and ad-tech company AdsWizz: their acquisition of Simplecast adds a capable podcast host and analytics company, and means they have capabilities in all sectors of the business. They join EW Scripps, who own Omny Studio, Triton Digital, Midroll and Stitcher; Spotify, who own Anchor, Gimlet et al; and Acast, who acquired Pippa and set up their own content studio last year. It's not enough, it seems, to be a great hosting company or a content-creator: the podcast companies of the future appears to need a foot in all parts of the business.
May 22, 2020:
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Ashley Carman writes, in The Verge, that the podcasting world is now Spotify vs everyone else
May 4, 2020:
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Gimlet Media won a legal case in February about a company, Reply All Corp, who claimed a trademark violation (thrown out in court). Now Gimlet wants $1.4m from Reply All Corp to cover legal costs.
April 24, 2020:
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Podjobs isn't new, but it is a fine (and free) place to post jobs in the podcast industry. Current jobs include some from Spotify, Gimlet, Apple and NPR.
April 15, 2020:
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Spotify is apparently testing profile pages for hosts, limited to Gimlet's talent. We don't see these tests as yet; we did though see a couple of full-page promos for podcasts (like this for Song Exploder) on hitting the home button. (We have an ad-free, premium subscription).
March 9, 2020:
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Spotify's Gimlet has a new Head of Content: Lydia Polgreen, who steps down from Editor in Chief of HuffPost. She'll be responsible for overseeing the entire slate including strategic planning and setting a creative vision for the studio; she'll report to Alex Blumberg.
February 27, 2020:
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A new podcast from Gimlet, Conviction: American Panic, was launched yesterday. It explores the story of John Quinney and investigates crimes some claim never happened – otherwise known as the “Satanic Panic.” There's a video trailer here. (Megaphone)
January 29, 2020:
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Spotify for Podcasters has released Gimlet Academy, a podcast first intended as an internal training tool for Gimlet staff. Hosted by Alex Blumberg, it's a five-part podcast that explores how to make compelling audio stories. The podcast is exclusive to Spotify.
November 12, 2019:
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A new scripted podcast from Gimlet launches tomorrow. Motherhacker stars Carrie Coon (Emmy & TONY nominee, Fargo, The Leftovers) as a single mother struggling to support her children, and the sharp turn her life takes when she starts phishing over the phone for a shady identity theft ring in order to survive. (Gimlet)
November 7, 2019:
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JetBlue, a US airline, has signed a deal with Spotify for podcasts in their in-flight entertainment system. As the airline’s exclusive podcast partner, the agreement will bring podcasts from Anchor, Gimlet, Parcast and Spotify Studios to seatback screens.
October 8, 2019:
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New independent series MOONFACE debuts tomorrow. It's a generational coming-of-age story between an Korean American son and his immigrant mother. He wants to finally open up to her by coming out, except they can’t speak the same language. All episodes are released tomorrow; creator James Kim is a producer for Gimlet. (Anchor)
September 30, 2019:
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The final season of Gimlet's StartUp focuses on Spotify's acquisition of the business. It starts October 4th.
September 17, 2019:
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In a Facebook post, Dave Jackson notes that Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend contains over ten minutes of ads. In August, Conan O'Brien signed "a mid-seven-figure deal" with podcasting network Midroll.
September 4, 2019:
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In Amsterdam, the programme has just been published for the Podcastfestival (28 September). Gimlet Media's Tim Howard will be doing the keynote, and an additional masterclass (in English) at the Waag in Nieuwmarkt the day before.
August 21, 2019:
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Conan O'Brien's Team Coco has signed a seven figure deal with Midroll for more seasons of Conan O'Brien needs a friend. Team Coco has also has launched two new podcasts on Luminary. Frontier Tween is a scripted podcast featuring the life of Tilly Mulch on the untamed prairie; Smartr is a look at the tech world with VC Noa Lukas, as he helps companies grow.
August 20, 2019:
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Gimlet had a rebrand at the end of May. Here's more about that from a design website. "With its typography, it gives the company a feeling of authority, but its colours and use of imagery mean it still feels playful and approachable." The company responsible is GrandArmy.
July 23, 2019:
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Wondery plans to translate many of its podcasts as part of their global growth plan; they're starting with their hit Dirty John.
July 17, 2019:
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The Clearing is a new true crime documentary series - "what came after April Balascio called a detective in 2009 to tell him about her suspicions". The press release contains a visualised trailer, which is worth a watch. (Gimlet / Pineapple Street Media / Megaphone)
July 5, 2019:
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Eric Eddings, host of Gimlet Media's The Nod, and WNYC producer Veralyn Williams, were special guests. Asked by our Editor about their attitude to subscriptions and exclusives, Eddings said that subscription services (and services which offer exclusive windows) "offer podcasters the type of budget that they need to make great stories up front," adding that he felt there was space for both business models. "Most people don't know how much it costs to make something good," added Williams. They also took part in a podcasting masterclass as part of Radio Days Africa.
June 28, 2019:
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The Wall Street Journal and Gimlet show The Journal has quietly launched.
June 11, 2019:
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Crunchbase looks at podcasting investment in 2019.
June 5, 2019:
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The Two Princes, an LGBTQ+ fictional podcast from Gimlet, was released today as a box set.
May 24, 2019:
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Gimlet are launching a new scripted LGBTQ+ series, called The Two Princes. All episodes will be released on June 4th, "on Spotify and wherever podcasts are available"; it's sponsored by a mail-order dog food brand. (Of note - Gimlet also has a new logo.)
May 23, 2019:
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Sruthi Pinnamaneni of Gimlet's Reply All gives advice on a useful framework for producing great-sounding podcast stories.
May 2, 2019:
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The Wall Street Journal and Gimlet daily news podcast will launch this summer. Yesterday, in an internal email, the WSJ's Head of Audio and Video Anthony Galloway announced the two co-hosts: Kate Linebaugh is WSJ's Deputy US News Coverage Chief; Ryan Knutson is a former WSJ telco reporter. Also announced, Andrew Sussman is going to be joining as the executive producer - he joins from The World (a co-pro between BBC and WGBH in Boston + PRI).
April 25, 2019:
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Three more publishers have pulled their content off Luminary. Mikey Fowler, EP of Podcasting for Barstool Sports (8th currrently in Podtrac), tells us that they have requested all of their RSS feeds be removed from Luminary, which would mean a total of 26 shows will be unavailable. Endeavor Audio podcasts have been withdrawn from the service, and the Joe Rogan Experience is also removed - that's been replaced with another characteristically snippy message. The subscription podcast app launched earlier this week with high-profile podcasts from Spotify, Gimlet Media, Parcast and the NYT's The Daily being unavailable.
April 24, 2019:
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Gimlet now has a formally recognised union.
April 23, 2019:
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Luminary, the self-styled "Netflix of podcasting", launches officially today. As The Verge points out, Luminary doesn't have The Daily from the New York Times in it - an in-app message grumpily recommends alternative podcasts. Podcasts from Spotify, Gimlet Media and Anchor are also unavailable. Perhaps surprisingly, it does contain BBC content. The Verge's Dieter Bohn calls this "the upcoming podcast wars".
April 17, 2019:
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Play 99% Invisible in your Mazda or Nissan, and your radio might crash, according to a recent episode of Reply All. Both Podcast Addict and Pocket Casts have now been patched to stop this from happening; and on Reddit, the person who noticed it, a guy called Ben, pops up with more detail of the bug: and in the comments, a solution... it turns out that characters like %In (along with %jn and %hhn) cause the issue (it's an "uncontrolled format string", apparently).
April 16, 2019:
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Advice: 3 ways to build and keep your radio or podcast audience from Backstage magazine; JAR Audio looks at ideal analytics for branded podcasts; Billboard highlights what makes a great podcast studio; and Brett Schafer examines Spotify's podcast analytics.
April 12, 2019:
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Motherhood Sessions is a new podcast from Gimlet Media (and yes, it's available everywhere); it's hosted by reproductive psychiatrist Dr. Alexandra Sacks who talks with women about their struggles with motherhood.
April 3, 2019:
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Spotify's acquisitions of Anchor, Gimlet and Parcast are analysed by Meghan Keaney Anderson from HubSpot.
March 27, 2019:
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As Podnews was sending yesterday, Spotify announced it will buy Parcast, a podcast production house. Spotify purchased Gimlet and Anchor earlier this year. Meanwhile, Gimlet management has "effectively refused to voluntarily recognise" their proposed union, according to the union's twitter feed.
March 25, 2019:
Welcome to over 300 new subscribers over the last two weeks, including from companies like ABC Australia, Scripps, Gimlet Media, Stitcher, NPR, SRF, Buzzsprout, Acast, Turner, Megaphone, iHeartMedia, Spotify, Deezer, Westwood One, Radioplayer Germany, Entercom, ACE Radio, and the BBC.
March 20, 2019:
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HotPod 200 is out, covering burnout and the Gimlet union. Congratulations to Nick Quah for 200 editions of his "comically lengthy newsletters" (his words).
March 14, 2019:
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The staff at Gimlet Media, bought by Spotify last month, are looking to launch a worker's union. With the Writer's Guild of America East, the Gimlet Union posted their reasons why on a tweet. Gimlet's management have acknowledged the request for union recognition, but otherwise have yet to respond. It would be a first for the podcast industry.
March 6, 2019:
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Nick Quah analyses the recent Luminary launch announcement - there's much that he considers a wild gamble. Meanwhile, The Verge covers Spotify's strategy.
March 4, 2019:
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"Everything is continuing as it was," says Matt Lieber of Gimlet, (still) trying to calm nerves that the Spotify acquisition of the company will stop us all listening to Reply All. He was speaking at the Hot Pod Summit, at the On Air Festival in New York NY, USA. (We heard lots more about the Hot Pod Summit over dinner last night, but a "cone of silence" prevents us from telling you.) Meanwhile, the Spotigimchor deal is validation for the industry, says Renee Wang, CEO of Castbox.
February 15, 2019:
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Emmanuel Dzotsi, the co-host of Serial's last season, is joining Gimlet to work on ReplyAll. Aloof British accents for the win! (Tip of the hat to Inside Podcasting for spotting this one, and linking to us this week.)
February 14, 2019:
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How much did Spotify pay for Anchor? Spotify's filing with the SEC says (right at the bottom) that "the Group entered into agreements to acquire Gimlet Media Inc. and Anchor FM Inc. for purchase consideration totalling approximately €300 million, primarily in cash." That's US $338m; so if Gimlet went for $230m, as Nick Quah reported, then Anchor looks like it went for $100m.
February 11, 2019:
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MG Siegler, who is General Partner at Google Ventures, the investment arm of Google (and properly known as GV these days), writes about the Anchor deal. GV invested in Anchor; Siegler also personally invested in Gimlet.
February 7, 2019:
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Relax, Reply All listeners. Here's a full transcript of the investor's call - including Daniel Ek saying: "Just to be very clear, the goal is not with Gimlet nor with Anchor to make any of their existing content exclusive, but to focus on the content that we're developing at Spotify and make more exclusive deals going forward."
February 6, 2019:
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Spotify+Gimlet: Paul Colligan thinks that Gimlet will contain ads for Spotify, and that this is a valuable part of a purchase (if it comes). HotPod today contains lots more about the deal, and the promise/threat that "we’re going to [be] talking about every implication of this for a long time". Spotify has an investor's call today, so we've not heard the end of this story yet.
February 5, 2019:
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Spotify and Gimlet - Kevin Goldberg shares his thoughts, pointing out "Apple has been mostly complacent on their podcast strategy, only minimally innovating their app, slow rolling their hyped analytics, and overall squandering their massive head start." Eric and Ely from the Bello Collective have a conversation about whether it's a good thing or not. And radio executive Stephen Martin makes an interesting point... "Does this mean that Gimlet podcasts could contain commercial music, at least within Spotify's castle walls? It could mean the advent of a new class of podcast; one that benefits music owners."
February 4, 2019:
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Spotify is in talks to buy Gimlet Media, it's been reported. Recode quote the price as being $200m; Nick Quah adds that "a source ... tells me that the specific price is $230 million". The WSJ's Ben Mullin underlines that "talks are ongoing and it is still possible that a deal won’t happen". There's a Spotify investor's Q4 earnings call on Wednesday, so we should know more this week.
January 30, 2019:
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Job: Executive Producer, WSJ Gimlet Podcast, in New York NY, USA.
January 25, 2019:
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Conviction is a new true crime series from Gimlet, featuring a new piece of investigative reporting each season. The first season follows the developing case of Pedro Hernandez. All seven episodes are released on Monday, February 4th.
January 4, 2019:
Welcome to our recent new subscribers, including folk from Spotify, Havas Edge, Audioboom, Vox Media, Gimlet Media, and broadcasters BR, NPR, SRF, ITN and NPO. Tell your colleagues!
January 3, 2019:
Thank you to two new supporters today: Solid Gold Podcast Studios in Randberg, South Africa, and to Gimlet, "the award-winning narrative podcasting company that aims to help listeners better understand the world and each other", in Brooklyn NY, USA. Your support helped us fix an issue for those who insist on using Safari. Be like these people.
December 27, 2018:
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The success of Gimlet Media's Homecoming TV adaptation may have shown the way forward for television adaptations of podcasts, says Firstpost.
December 17, 2018:
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Gimlet, the podcast producer in Brooklyn NY, USA, shows off its beautiful studio complex. It opened in August 2018, designed by acoustic architectural firm WSDG.
December 10, 2018:
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Nick Quah reports that Gimlet Media is to work with the Wall Street Journal to produce a daily news podcast.
November 23, 2018:
Welcome new readers this week from Targetspot, Gimlet Media, Wondery, ESPN, NHPR, New York Public Radio and the CBC._
October 16, 2018:
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Eric Mennel (ex Gimlet, Criminal, This American Life and WUNC) is NPR's new Supervising Producer for Embedded.
October 5, 2018:
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Casting Call, a project from Squarespace and Gimlet which we reported on in May, posted their winner yesterday in a live show. The winner was Anna Ladd, who wrote An Exciting Business Opportunity - testing out MLM products and the people who sell them.
October 2, 2018:
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Gimlet Media have unveiled their Q3 2018 lineup. It includes a horror show, and Alex Blumberg has a new interview show.
August 24, 2018:
Welcome to some excellent new subscribers at SpliceCast, Podcast One, Voxnest, Squadcast, Slate, Fugitive Media, NPR, Gimlet Media, Blinkist, the BBC, SRF, Radio Works, StreamGuys and the Washington Post.
August 17, 2018:
Welcome to new subscribers from great companies like Audioboom, RAJAR, the Financial Times, AdsWizz, MPR, Pandora and Gimlet Media.
August 15, 2018:
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Interviews with podcasters: Alex Goldman from Reply All is interviewed in Podchaser today; Ear Hustle’s Nigel Poor joins to talk about Raymond Carver’s writing, a lifelong habit of eavesdropping, and her time working at San Quentin, in But That's Another Story; Gimlet's Matt Lieber and NPR's Neal Carruth are interviewed in Space Daily.
August 10, 2018:
Welcome to new subscribers this week, including devastatingly excellent people from Futuri Media, ABC Australia, Streamguys, Nashville Public Radio, Gimlet Media, Turner, So Television, Anchor, Slate, Entale and the Wireless Group.
July 11, 2018:
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On May 2 we covered Gimlet and Squarespace's US competition to "look for podcasting's next star". AdWeek reports that they had over 5,000 entries.
June 29, 2018:
Thank you to 133 new subscribers over the past week, including fine folk from Acast, ESPN, Gimlet Media, Corus, CBC, TED, Ad Results Media, Swedish Radio, Québecor, 7digital, Mamamia, Cadence13, Sky and many others. Your support is very much appreciated.
June 18, 2018:
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Gimlet's Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber are profiled in Recode, and on the Recode Media podcast.
May 21, 2018:
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In the golden age of television, can narrative podcasts compete? asks The Guardian. ...
May 17, 2018:
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Josh Muccio, host and EP of The Pitch, posts an AMA on Reddit about the process of his podcast being acquired by Gimlet Media.
May 11, 2018:
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The Gimlet podcast Sandra is to be developed into a TV show.
May 2, 2018:
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Gimlet and Squarespace announce a competition to look for podcasting's next star. "The two podcast giants looked at the top 100 podcasts on Apple Podcasts and found that over 55% of the shows were made by production companies in either New York or Los Angeles, despite the fact that there are reportedly other places on the planet." says Fast Company. The competition is available to anyone living in... the United States.
April 30, 2018:
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GimletFest tickets are now on sale.
April 27, 2018:
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Vulture reviews Gimlet's The Habitat. "Charming."
April 25, 2018:
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The Peabody Awards have been announced. Podcast winners include MPR's 74 Seconds, pictured above - "We are incredibly honored to receive this award", This American Life's S-Town, Louisville Public Media's The Pope's Long Con - "I’m so proud of our team", and Gimlet's Uncivil.
April 12, 2018:
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Gimlet Media launch three new shows for Spring - the press release includes a video explaining what they're all about. Enjoy fiction series Sandra, The Habitat, and football documentary We Came To Win, as well as season seven of StartUp.
April 11, 2018:
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Ford talk about their success with "native elements" in Gimlet's StartUp podcast. Data: "The StartUp podcast has 4.1m downloads."
April 4, 2018:
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HotPod 157 is out. Nick discusses decent figures from NPR, and an exec shuffle at Gimlet.
April 3, 2018:
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The Wall Street Journal's The Future of Everything has moved to a weekly schedule. Executive Producer John Wordock has expanded the team for the popular science and tech podcast, hiring producers with experience at Panoply, Gimlet, Marketplace and WNYC.
March 30, 2018:
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The Atlantic is growing its podcast division, and has hired its first executive producer, Katherine Wells (ex Gimlet). It's announced its third podcast, Crazy/Genius, a tech culture show; joining Radio Atlantic and The Atlantic Interview.
March 12, 2018:
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Digiday writes an article on how podcaster Gimlet Media is targeting Hollywood. Gimlet Pictures, its film and TV division, was formed earlier this year.
March 8, 2018:
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HotPod 154 was out earlier this week. Nick asks the question Alexa? How exactly can I make money with you?, after Gimlet's launch of a specific podcast for the smart speaker (Mar 2).
March 2, 2018:
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Gimlet Media is producing a podcast especially for the Amazon Alexa platform. It's called Chompers and is designed for kids to help them brush their teeth: sponsored by a toothbrush and toothpaste brand. Except: "Mr. Lieber said that Amazon’s rules prevented Gimlet Media from disclosing Oral B’s and Crest Kids sponsorship during the show, which it otherwise would have done."
January 17, 2018:
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HotPod 147 is out. Nick focuses on Slate and Gimlet.
January 12, 2018:
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An interview with the new chief marketing officer of Gimlet Media, Jenny Wall. She highlights as her strategy an association between show and brand. "When someone says it’s a Gimlet show, you know it’s going to be good," she says.
January 10, 2018:
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Podcast producer Gimlet has a new Chief Marketing Officer: Jenny Wall, described by Variety as an "entertainment-marketing veteran". She's come from Hulu, Netflix, and HBO. (Her first job should be ensuring there's a Gimlet logo at the bottom of this update.)
December 20, 2017:
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Yesterday, I asked about why 'consumption' figures sometimes show that listeners have enjoyed 107% of a podcast. Responses, including one from Gimlet Media no less, says that it is "re-listens". "I’m assuming that with a show the length of yours, there are few people who do not make it through and so listeners who replay the episode bring it up to 107%", one respondent tells me. (The podcast we spotted 107% on is normally four minutes long; podnews's own is always under two). We've since seen a podcast with a consumption figure of 440%. If it is people rewinding and re-listening, it skews the consumption figure enough to make it entirely useless. You'd have thought that a more useful stat would be capped at 100% per device. As it is, it could be that everyone stops listening after ten seconds, apart from the one person who puts the podcast on repeat for the whole day.
December 5, 2017:
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Recommended: Heavyweight, a wierd mix of humour and a captivating story. Inserted in the Reply All feed this week, this episode's from November, and is entitled "Jesse".
November 22, 2017:
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Canada is the focus of HotPod 141. Quah also reports on the Grindr/Food4Thot collaboration (Nov 16), and Gimlet's kids podcasts.
November 21, 2017:
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Ecosalon posts a piece entitled Fictionalized Podcasts Are Having a Moment - including their pick of five. Gimlet's Homecoming is #1.
November 7, 2017:
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Recommended: ReplyAll investigates Facebook using your phone's microphone to spy on your conversations. And, how to stop them doing it, even though they're not.
October 26, 2017:
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Ira Glass and the Unbearable Voice of Elite Podcasting - an opinion from Isaac Simpson. "The hosts speak with a disaffected, effete sort of vocal fry that sounds like they barely had the energy to drag themselves out of bed that morning ... a brazen attempt at a sort of lackadaisical, can’t-be-bothered cool."
October 23, 2017:
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Job: Gimlet (NY, NY USA) is looking for an Editor for Reply All.
October 9, 2017:
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Quiz: according to Variety, does Gimlet Media want to become a) the Netflix of audio, b) the Spotify of audio, c) the HBO of audio? Answer here, in this view of the company. “Nobody says, ‘Do you watch video?’” says Blumberg. “We’re now getting out of the stage of people asking, ‘Do you listen to podcasts?’”
September 20, 2017:
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TuneIn announce First Play, an "early-release" podcast service. Interesting exclusivity play for their platform. Monetisation is unclear. Studios to sign up include WNYC Studios, Gimlet, HowStuffWorks and ESPN.
September 7, 2017:
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Ad company WPP invests US$5m in Gimlet. They become a minority shareholder. Gimlet has raised $27m so far.
August 4, 2017:
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A two-part Reply All, which I'd personally recommend: "Long Distance".
August 2, 2017:
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Gimlet Media have raised another US$15m, reports Recode, in a long piece saying how small podcasts are, expressing doubt at the research, and saying the industry's too small for VCs to really care about.
July 28, 2017:
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Meanwhile, Gimlet is running ads in its podcasts, notably Reply All, saying that all of its podcasts are now available in Spotify. (Not new, but interesting to hear the sponsorship).
July 26, 2017:
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HotPod 129 is out. (Reading time: 19m51s). "Gimlet's Homecoming returns for its second season, gets an e-book companions, and hammers down its TV adaptation; More paywalled podcasts trickle out into the open ecosystem; Midroll expands its Earwolf lineup; Wondery's new show breaks 1M in slightly over a week... and more."
July 12, 2017:
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HotPod issue 127 - 17m 43sec reading time - is out. Gimlet's diversity report, a Q&A with Gina Delvac (from Call your girlfriend), and Nick mulls over whether we've hit Peak Podcast quite yet. Are there too many being produced?
June 30, 2017:
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After just six episodes, Gimlet kills their Twice Removed podcast. It was just too complicated to make, the company says.
June 29, 2017:
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Microsoft and Gimlet launch a new podcast called .future - technology across a variety of sectors.
June 27, 2017:
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From a long boring aeroplane journey I've just had, might I recommend Gimlet's Reply All: Shipped to Timbuktu.
June 12, 2017:
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Gimlet Media has a new home - the Pioneer Building in Brooklyn NY. It used to be a self-storage building, and the landlord has spent $30m doing it up.
June 7, 2017:
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HotPod 122 contains details about a new podcast app from Apple, linking to a few leaks on Reddit. Particularly it appears to enable "seasons" for shows - requiring some work on your RSS feed, it would appear, in time for "this fall" (Australians - they mean "next spring"). Plus a Gimlet acquisition Quah calls 'curious'. Reading time for this issue is 18 minutes.