SiriusXM (owner of Pandora and AdsWizz) buys Simplecast

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

  • 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.

• Kim Kardashian West has signed an exclusive deal with Spotify, report the WSJ ($). The Verge reports she’ll do a show with Parcast on criminal justice reform; no terms were given.

• Rob Greenlee has been confirmed as Chairperson of The Podcast Academy, in a press release. Writing for Podnews, Rob Greenlee says that becoming Chairperson was “not something that I asked for, or even lobbied for”. He focuses on the benefits of being involved, and highlights two free webinars today to learn more.

• The IAB reports that 52% of ad-buyers plan to spend more on podcast ads during the second-half of 2020. Only 14% plan to increase their spend on radio ads.

  
  This link is no longer available, as at Aug 25 2023

• Podcast production studio Audio Up has announced a number of signings to their executive team, including David Hurwitz (NBC), Krista Liney (History Channel), and actor and musician Dennis Quaid.

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• APM and Minnesota Public Radio are to lay off 28 staff members. John Moe’s podcast Hilarious World of Depression is also a casualty of the cuts. The company lost 14 staff members last month, and has made a number of additional cost-savings.

  
  Aug 25 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

• Audioboom has announced a set of new shows, including real-life stories behind movies; a new weekly crime show, and a look at America in the run-up to the 2020 Presidential election.

• GetVokl is a new platform that “combines the potential of live-video technology with the story telling and community building power of podcasters”, according to its CEO.

• The other day, we linked to a piece in Variety saying one-of-five people would be happy to pay for podcasting: but inadvertently linked to a paid article (which we don’t pay for, for the record, so who knows how we can see it). Anyway: here’s the same data from YouGov.

• Podcast Movement is planning a virtual meetup on June 25.

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Tips and tricks

• Ways to improve your interview podcast and ask better questions (James Griffin, Discover Pods)
• Reasons Most Podcasts Fail But Yours Doesn’t Have To (Brandon B R)

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