As Twitter continues to crash down beneath the load of Elon’s ego, I’ve been questioning about what the consequence will likely be for the podcast group. Like all media varieties, individuals within the audio business largely use Twitter to gossip, promote reveals, and share takes (good and unhealthy!). I’ve not been shy about my distaste for Twitter, but it surely does serve an essential position. If issues proceed to spiral, will individuals depart? Will they keep for the discourse? Be at liberty to shoot me an e mail on what you’re considering.
Anyway, sufficient about Elon. Immediately, Alex Blumberg takes his depart, YouTube proves its may within the music house, and I’ve a brand new outlet for my Friday Night time Lights obsession.
Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg has left Spotify
Alex Blumberg, who co-founded Gimlet and bought the studio to Spotify in 2019, left the corporate final month. The information was first reported by New York Occasions reporter Ben Mullin, and Spotify spokesperson Gray Munford confirmed Blumberg’s departure to Sizzling Pod. It’s one more huge change for Gimlet, which has skilled govt shakeups, layoffs, and present cancellations which have left the studio in flux.
After years of working in public radio at reveals like This American Life and Planet Cash, Blumberg launched Gimlet with Matt Lieber in 2014. Gimlet was one of many first main standalone podcast networks, with hits like StartUp, which Blumberg hosted, and Reply All, a groundbreaking present about society and the web. Gimlet was certainly one of Spotify’s first main podcast acquisitions and fashioned the preliminary basis of its programming.
Blumberg stepped again from day-to-day editorial management in 2020 when Lydia Polgreen got here aboard as managing director. However the studio struggled to create new hits, and tentpole Reply All imploded final 12 months after co-host PJ Vogt and producer Sruthi Pinnamaneni had been accused of fostering an exclusionary atmosphere. The present struggled to regain its footing and ended earlier this 12 months.
Polgreen has since left and has been changed by NPR vet Nicole Beemsterboer. Blumberg’s most seen position at Gimlet of late was as host of local weather change podcast How you can Save a Planet. The present was well-received however was canceled together with two different Gimlet reveals final month.
Underneath Beemsterboer’s management, Gimlet nonetheless wants to determine its place in Spotify’s rising podcast ecosystem. The streamer is more and more reliant on personality-driven reveals like Archetypes with Meghan Markle and The Joe Rogan Expertise, in addition to splashy Hollywood collaborations like Batman Unburied.
Whereas there’ll doubtless proceed to be a journalistic bent at Gimlet itself (Beemsterboer beforehand led the investigations unit at NPR), the studio is exploring different instructions, too. Gimlet just lately produced Case 63, an English-language remake of Spanish-language smash Caso 63. The present, which stars Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, is at present ranked at quantity three on Spotify’s podcast chart. That’s a far cry from the general public radio-adjacent programming that Blumberg used to construct the studio, however more and more, it’s the place Gimlet is discovering success.
YouTube’s music service is rising sooner than we thought
I don’t really know anybody who subscribes to YouTube Music or Premium, however they’re on the market — 80 million of them, in truth. That represents a rise of 30 million simply previously 12 months, studies my Verge colleague Emma Roth. The providers are additionally rising sooner than they did the 12 months prior, after they solely added 20 million subscribers. YouTube didn’t disclose the breakdown of subscribers between YouTube Music (which prices $9.99 per thirty days) and YouTube Premium (which prices $11.99 per thirty days and consists of entry to ad-free movies in addition to YouTube’s music library), but it surely’s spectacular nonetheless.
The determine comes out at a time when YouTube is more and more being seen as a competitor to Spotify within the audio house. The streamer just lately launched a devoted podcast web page and has emerged as essentially the most used platform for podcast consumption. Plus, its Premium providing offers entry to ad-free podcast listening and viewing.
YouTube’s subs are nonetheless nowhere close to Spotify’s. Final month, Spotify reported 195 paying subscribers and expects to cross the 200 million mark earlier than the tip of the 12 months. However YouTube might be a powerful contender for the quantity two spot — earlier this 12 months, Amazon Music reported 55 million subscribers, and we haven’t gotten a quantity for Apple Music since 2019 when the corporate reported 60 million subscribers.
We don’t want any extra TV rewind podcasts… apart from this new one about Friday Night time Lights
I suppose there actually is a nostalgic TV podcast for everybody! PodcastOne has launched It’s Not Solely Soccer: Friday Night time Lights and Past, hosted by FNL alums Scott Porter and Zach Gilford and superfan Mae Whitman (who at no level appeared on the present). I particularly recognize the inclusion of Whitman, because it acknowledges {that a} good chunk of FNL’s fanbase is made up of bizarre ladies who don’t take into consideration soccer in another context (hello, hiya!). Will it’s the following Workplace Women? Not going, however I’m right here for it.
I’ll be again tomorrow with extra particulars from Sizzling Pod Summit, together with highlights from our conversations on podcast subscriptions and parasocial relationships.
