Copy
pew pew
Want more? Hit the website
Happy Tuesday! This is an extra issue, dated January 23, 2020.
And thanks for being a paid subscriber! You are literally keeping the lights on.
Hey all — Nick here. Jumping back into your inbox on this Thursday afternoon with a tiny scoop.
Nick Quah
ENDEAVOR AUDIO LAYS OFF SALES TEAM AMIDST RESTRUCTURE


I'm able to confirm that Endeavor Audio, the podcast division launched by the entertainment conglomerate Endeavor in the fall of 2018, has laid off its in-house advertising sales team, and is pulling out of the podcast advertising sales business more broadly. At least one client has already been informed, and the sales team was informed late last week.

According to a person familiar with the matter, the move comes amidst a restructure that sees Endeavor Audio shifting its operations from being a standalone end-to-end podcast publishing entity — covering development, financing, production, distribution, marketing, and monetization — into something that's more formally integrated with Endeavor Content, the division established by Endeavor in 2017 to focus on developing, packaging, and distributing projects, primarily for film and television. (For deeper context on Endeavor Content, I recommend this Variety article from Oct 2018 and this LA Times write-up from August 2019.) Under this new arrangement, Endeavor Audio will mostly focus on performing the functions of a creative broker, where it will pursue podcast projects to invest in, develop, and bring out to market for potential podcast buyers.

This shift represents a pivot — or a refocus, if you have distaste for the word "pivot" — for Endeavor Audio, which was first introduced to the world with considerable fanfare in September 2018, complete with a New York Times write-up. The division launched with several notable partnerships, including ones with the famed TV producer Dick Wolf, Mass Appeal, and Parcast (which would later be acquired by Spotify). It would later strike partnerships with, among others, the WWE and Qcode, the latter of which has resulted in the release of several adaptation-minded fiction podcasts fronted by Hollywood talent, like Blackout and Gaslight.

Despite the divestment from ad sales and shift in focus, Endeavor Audio will continue publishing podcasts that have come out of their existing partnerships, suggesting that, at least for now, the division will be adhering to some kind of hybrid business model. For those still-active podcasts, a third-party will be brought in to handle ad sales.

Meanwhile, as part of its transition towards creative brokerage, the division will be bolstered its presence on the West Coast. I'm told that they have hired someone to start its Los Angeles office. That person will begin work in February.

CLASSIFIEDS


Night Vale Presents, an independent podcast network focusing on original audio fiction, is seeking a full time business manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of the network. Learn more and apply. (Link)
In his new book, Make Noise, veteran NPR podcast creator Eric Nuzum distills a career’s worth of wisdom, advice, practical information, and big-picture thinking to help podcasters learn to think the way their audience listens and become effective audio storytellers. (Link)
Blue Dot Sessions hosts a library of minimalist music for podcast and radio. Used daily by NPR, Gimlet, Radiotopia and others. Blanket licenses cover all the music for your show + multitrack stem files and variations, starting at $25/mo. (Link)
Thinking of localizing your audio and podcasts? Learn what Hollywood's known for more than 50 years: the major movie studios trust CMI to dub and subtitle their films in hundreds of languages; now it's working with podcast content. For more information and a new customer discount, go here.

Want to advertise to the find readers of Hot Pod? Visit this page for more information.
Post Note. Everything's swinging West, isn't it?
[ Archives ]
Hey <<First Name>>. Love Hot Pod? Subscribe to Hot Pod Insider, Get More Newsletters.
But what if you don't want to receive Hot Pod anymore? Well... Unsubscribe. 

Copyright © 2019 Hot Pod Media, All rights reserved.

Hey! Note:
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
Hot Pod at The Verge · 1201 Connecticut Ave NW · Washington, DC 20036 · USA