Amazon’s reshuffling from its podcast prime, putting more oomph into creator shows

It will forever baffle us how Quibi fumbled so badly. Its elevator pitch–celebrity- and creator-led narratives delivered in vertical format, designed for people to watch (or listen to) on the go. But while COVID lockdowns helped contribute to Quibi’s swift demise, all its core ingredients went on to see success individually. Short-form video content became king. Major Hollywood studios (many of which had funded Quibi) began snapping up deals with celebs and creators for their own productions.

And the concept of narrative-dense content for people to listen to on the go…Well, that’s podcasts.

Podcasts surged during the pandemic, and major players that had already experimented with them, like YouTube, Spotify, and Amazon, threw themselves into the expanding medium, making huge investments.

One of those investments was Amazon’s $300 million buy of podcast network/publisher Wondery. Now, five years later, Amazon says the podcast landscape has “evolved significantly,” and that it needs to change things up to meet audience needs.

‘Changing things up’ involves laying off 110 people, among them Wondery’s CEO Jen Sargent. What remains of the company will be carved in half. Wondery’s in-house, narrative-driven studio (responsible for shows like Dr. Death, American History Tellers, and Scam Factory) will merge with Audible, which Amazon acquired in 2008, also for a reported $300 million. Marshall Lewy, Wondery’s Chief Content Officer, will join Audible as well.

Meanwhile, celebrity-hosted shows like Jason and Travis Kelce‘s New Heights, LeBron James‘ Mind the Game (pictured above), and Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert will continue to publish under the Wondery branding, but the responsibility for handling them will move to a newly formed creator services team within Amazon that’s focused on “selling large sponsorships,” Bloomberg reports.

Steve Boom, Amazon’s VP of Audio, Twitch, and Games, said the major reason for this restructure is the rise of video podcasts–especially those led by creators (though it’s worth noting Amazon calls traditional celebrities and athletes “creators,” too, so when it says “creators,” it’s not necessarily talking about its three-season deal with MrBeast).

“[W]e have learned that creator-led, video-integrated shows have different audience needs and require distinct discovery, growth and monetization strategies compared to audio-first, narrative series,” Boom said. “The rise of video has also blurred the lines on what it means to be a podcast creator.”

In a staff memo, Boom said the new creator services team “unites Wondery’s growing slate of hit creator-led shows […] with Talent Services’ portfolio of strategic deals that span multiple businesses across Amazon.”

The team will work with “a select number of top creators to drive scaled listenership and unlock broader and long-lasting relationships across Amazon,” he added.

Our take on this? YouTube and Spotify have spent the past few years duking it out for podcast domination–specifically video podcast domination. YouTube has bulked its audio ad offerings and recently introduced its own weekly podcast charts, signaling a continuing commitment to making podcasts happen on its platform. Spotify, meanwhile, has revamped its podcast creator program and begun sending out its own creator award plaques.

Spotify has also sourced talent from YouTube, like its $100 million deal with Joe Rogan, while YouTube hasn’t really locked down talent, instead preferring to follow its usual UGC protocol and let creators populate its platform with whatever strikes their whimsy. Judging by our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Reports, that’s led to heavy-hitting weekly shows getting millions of views and notable sponsorships.

Amazon, as Boom openly said, wants in on those sponsorship dollars, and appears to have come to the conclusion that celebrity- and creator-led programs are going to secure it. Considering how frequently we’ve written about creators’ now-commanding position among traditional media titans, and how we know content creators like Dude Perfect and MrBeast are securing long-term, multimedia sponsorships on their own, we think it’s probably right.

But we want to know if Amazon’s “creator services” team will ever expand to support the digital content creators who have built our industry from the ground up.