Amazon Is Gutting Its Wondery Podcast Studio

Amazon is splitting up its Wondery podcast workplace conscionable 4 years aft acquiring it, as first reported by Bloomberg. As portion of nan change, nan workplace will shed astir 110 employees, while Wondery CEO Jen Sargent will time off nan company.

In a connection to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Alice Zhou confirmed that while Wondery will proceed to nutrient podcasts, its narrative-driven studio, which has developed shows for illustration Dr. Death, American Scandal, and Business Wars, will merge pinch Amazon’s Audible team.

Its celebrity-hosted shows, specified as New Heights pinch Jason & Travis Kelce, LeBron James’ Mind nan Game, and Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, will subordinate a caller “creator services” squad that will attraction connected “selling ample sponsorships,” according to Bloomberg. Some of these shows will support nan Wondery branding, while nan Wondery Plus app will besides stay disposable aft nan shuffle, according to Bloomberg.

“The podcast scenery has evolved importantly successful nan past fewer years, peculiarly pinch nan emergence of video-forward, creator-led content,” Zhou said. “These changes bespeak that improvement and will streamline really Wondery integrates further into Amazon.” Zhou added that “many” of nan Wondery labor impacted by nan studio’s divided moved to “other parts of Amazon.”

Amazon closed its $300 cardinal deal to get Wondery in 2021. Over nan past fewer years, nan podcast manufacture has undergone a displacement to video that has helped make YouTube nan astir celebrated level for podcasts. Wondery laid disconnected a “small number” of labor earlier this year, while immoderate of its flagship podcasts, such arsenic SmartLess and Morbid, person near for SiriusXM.