Cuts at ESPN Radio, Nat Geo’s audio division, and Vice Audio
The week took an unexpectedly grim flip as various audio journalists misplaced their jobs.
First off, layoffs at Disney resulted in a number of high-profile cuts at ESPN’s radio and podcast operations. Radio Perception reported that vice chairman of ESPN Audio Scott McCarthy is among the many cuts. McCarthy not solely oversaw each ESPN’s radio and podcast divisions, however he additionally oversaw ESPN’s native radio stations in New York Metropolis and Los Angeles. Additionally dismissed was ESPN’s senior director of audio programming, Pete Gianesini, who has been on the community for over 20 years.
Gianesini introduced his exit in a LinkedIn publish on Tuesday. “Once you get the information that your place is being eradicated after 25 years, there’s so many feelings swirling round, maybe ALL of the feelings, however as my time with ESPN and The Walt Disney Firm will quickly come to an finish, the one emotion I’ll actively interact with is gratitude. Thanks to the leaders who gave me duty over their packages, significantly within the early days, and later, and way more importantly, their individuals.” InsideRadio reported that greater than 30 workers at ESPN Audio have been let go. On prime of that, the audio division’s whole gross sales crew was minimize, reported Barrett Sports activities Media.
Disney layoffs additionally got here for audio jobs at Nationwide Geographic. Audio editor Eli Chen tweeted that she and your complete crew that produces the Overheard at Nationwide Geographic podcast was laid off on Monday. A Nationwide Geographic worker confirmed to Scorching Pod {that a} complete of 5 individuals labored on the crew, together with govt producer Davar Ardalan and producer Jacob Pinter. The acclaimed podcast was nominated for a Webby this 12 months and has gained quite a few awards. “As a way to set the Nationwide Geographic Journal and its Digital & Social experiences up for achievement within the ever-evolving media panorama all of us face day by day, we needed to make some robust staffing choices. We’re so grateful to all who’ve contributed to what the model is immediately, and to all these devoted to retaining this model — and these experiences — related and thriving effectively into the longer term,” vice chairman of communications Chris Albert wrote in a message to Scorching Pod. Then on Thursday, layoffs got here for Vice Media. As part of a broader restructuring, Vice Media fully axed its audio division. Journalist Sam Eagan tweeted that he and your complete Vice Audio crew had been let go. “[B]eing right here has meant absolutely the world to me. Not due to the model or the cash however the individuals I acquired to spend a lot time with,” Eagan wrote on Twitter.
Later within the day, Patrick Klepek of Vice Information tweeted to say that he and the remainder of the crew at Waypoint (together with the podcasts) have been let go. The crew’s ultimate day will likely be on June 2nd.
The media and tech industries have each seen waves of layoffs in latest months, which makes these newest cuts disheartening, if not solely stunning. Disney is planning to minimize 7,000 jobs in complete, whereas Spotify minimize round 600 in January after shedding a part of its podcast employees simply months earlier. In the meantime, the media trade has been simply as rocky, with BuzzFeed shutting down its information division simply final week.
Clubhouse eliminates greater than half of its workforce
In an abrupt Thursday morning e-mail, Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth knowledgeable workers that the corporate was slicing its workforce by greater than half. These who have been let go came upon a number of minutes after the e-mail was despatched — within the type of a calendar invite.
A model of the e-mail was printed on Clubhouse’s web site. The founders cited “communications challenges” as a result of crew’s giant dimension as one of many causes behind the layoffs. Sarcastically, it additionally listed the corporate being fully distant as including to its difficulties. The social audio app skyrocketed in reputation within the first half of 2020 — largely due to the truth that everybody was working remotely and there was a sudden demand for platforms that might host digital gatherings. Of their e-mail, the founders acknowledge that Clubhouse’s preliminary growth isn’t coming again. “However because the world has opened up post-Covid, it’s change into tougher for many individuals to search out their buddies on Clubhouse and to suit lengthy conversations into their each day lives. To search out its position on the planet, the product must evolve. This requires a interval of change,” wrote the founders. It hasn’t even been a full 12 months since Clubhouse did layoffs in June 2022, which it mentioned was wanted with the intention to streamline its workforce. Clubhouse’s co-founders additionally need us to know: the app isn’t going anyplace. The duo writes that the corporate has “years of runway remaining.” However immediately’s cuts recommend the corporate is planning rather more of a reinvention somewhat than attempting to develop the community that shrunk because the pandemic waned.
SiriusXM studies decline in paid subscribers and a lift in podcast advert income
SiriusXM reported a dip in each income and earnings for the primary quarter of 2023, due largely to a loss in paid subscribers. The corporate posted revenues of $2.14 billion, or a 2 p.c drop, resulting from a decline in advert gross sales and subscribers. SiriusXM’s subscriber depend has a constructive relationship with automobile gross sales — fewer automobiles bought means fewer new subscribers for SiriusXM — and a slower market led to a dip in new person acquisition. SiriusXM misplaced 347,000 “self-pay” subscribers within the first quarter, which it mentioned was resulting from a decline in new trials on new and used automobiles on the finish of 2022. Podcast and programmatic advertisements are performing strongly. Whereas promoting income from Pandora and its “off-platform” division took a slight dip ($334 million this quarter in comparison with $336 million final 12 months), the corporate’s total podcast advert income elevated by 34 p.c this quarter.SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz as soon as once more referred to as podcasting a “vibrant spot” on the corporate’s earnings name, this time whereas teasing plans to additional combine podcasts with the corporate’s conventional speak programming. “As we develop our new Sirius XM platform, we’re rethinking how we floor and ship speak content material and see alternatives to higher mix stay reveals with on-demand podcasts to serve the various preferences of listeners,” Witz mentioned. That new platform is meant to reach by the top of the 12 months.
Cumulus Media studies income lack of $21.5 million
Atlanta-based Cumulus Media has had a tough 2023 thus far, however there’s hope in a slight increase in its digital income. The corporate posted income of $205.7 million for the quarter that ended March 2023, in comparison with $232.03 million in the identical interval final 12 months, with a complete web lack of $21.5 million.Proper now, the primary offender behind its troubles is a decline in broadcast radio income, a considerable drawback for the third largest proprietor of AM/FM radio stations within the US. A take a look at Cumulus’ earnings launch reveals a 12.5 p.c dip in broadcast radio income 12 months over 12 months — little doubt this 12 months’s weakened advert market is responsible. In the meantime, Cumulus’ digital advertising income (which incorporates many several types of advertisements — together with podcast advertisements) elevated by 23 p.c.Cumulus Media CEO Mary Berner mentioned podcasting was harm this quarter by declines within the nationwide advert market. The potential upside is that Cumulus is attempting to refocus its podcast efforts on native programming. “We imagine there’s alternative, lots of our programmers would very a lot love to do podcasting,” Berner mentioned, saying Cumulus is “seeing preliminary success there.”
And that’s all I acquired for you immediately, gang. I’ll see you tomorrow, the place hopefully there will likely be extra constructive information to report.
