Wondery CEO Jen Sargent is stepping down as Amazon reshuffles its audio division.
Sargent is amongst a group of Wondery workers affected by Amazon’s realignment of its Audible audiobook and podcasting division. In response to CNBC, Amazon will get rid of 110 jobs on account of this reshuffle.
Steve Increase, Amazon’s vice chairman of audio, Twitch, and video games, stated in a memo to staffers that the reorganization “won’t solely higher align our groups as they work to reap the benefits of the strategic alternatives forward however, much more crucially, will guarantee we have now the fitting construction in place to ship the easiest expertise to creators, prospects and advertisers.”
The realignment will end result within the separation of the groups that oversee its narrative podcasts from these creating “creator-led reveals.”
The narrative podcasting unit will probably be consolidated underneath Audible, and creator-led content material will transfer to a Creator Companies unit, which Increase will oversee.
The rise of video podcasts, which has seen YouTube develop into the largest beneficiary of this shift, has compelled Amazon to adapt and sustain with this ever-changing panorama.
Wondery tried to maintain up with the shift to video podcasts, because it had been constructing out free ad-supported streaming TV channels on Amazon’s Prime Video Reside TV, previously Freevee, in addition to on YouTube.
The corporate introduced the channels on Prime Video in October 2023, created from standard podcasts from the Exhibit C lineup, together with Dr. Demise and Morbid.
As well as, following a beta-testing interval, Wondery launched eight of its hottest podcasts—together with Child, This Is Keke Palmer, and New Heights With Jason and Travis Kelce—as video packages for Wondery+ subscribers on the Wondery app.
Amazon bought Wondery in December 2020, saying on the time that it will be capable to speed up the expansion and evolution of podcasts by bringing creators, hosts, and immersive experiences to much more listeners throughout the globe.
