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Amazon is effectively breaking up its Wondery podcast division as part of a broader restructuring effort as it tries to adapt to an industry shift toward video-oriented material, the company said in a memo to staff.
The move will see about 110 employees laid off, while many moving to other parts of Amazon, the memo said.
Wondery chief executive Jen Sargent will be leaving Amazon as part of the transition, according to the memo.
Layoffs
Existing audio-oriented podcasts will be moved to Amazon’s Audible division, while a new Creator Services team will now handle personality-driven shows.
The Wondery+ subscription service will also move to Audible.
Meanwhile, creator-focused shows will continue to use the Wondery brand, while the restructure will help creators to market their content across multiple channels.
The move is a response to the rise of video-driven material with high-profile creators, a trend competitors such as Spotify and YouTube are already increasingly taking advantage of.
“As video podcasting has grown in popularity, we have learned that creator-led, video-integrated shows have different audience needs and require distinct discovery, growth and monetisation strategies compared to audio-first, narrative series,” said Steve Boom, Amazon’s vice president of audio, Twitch and games, in the memo.
Amazon completed its takeover of Wondery in February 2021, and since then the network has seen podcast revenue quadruple as it has expanded into video podcasts and creator-driven series, Boom wrote.
The number of people consuming podcasts has also continued to grow, according to Edison Research figures, but podcast producers have been forced to cut operations or diversify in response to changing trends in the advertising market.
Industry shift
In June, Spotify laid off 5 percent of staff in its podcast division, while Philadelphia-based radio conglomerate Audacy shut down New York City-based podcast business Pineapple Street Studios.
Amazon’s restructure appeared to be a way to focus more resources on video podcaster “influencers”, which can attract larger and more diversified marketing revenues.
Amazon has made multiple rounds of layoffs this year affecting units such as the Goodreads review site and the Kindle e-books division.
A round of job cuts in June affected less than 100 people and was designed to improve efficiency, the company said.
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