Matt Starker, the CEO of Audiochuck, walked me through the deal his company signed in October with Tubi and Red Seat Ventures to adapt several of its series into shows, with the aim of translating its true crime hits into full-fledged shows. Similarly, vice president of sales at Crooked Media Giancarlo Bizzarro explained why his company penned a deal just last month with MSNBC, part of an effort from the linear network to age down its audience. And Karen Paek, the vice president of marketing at the streaming service Viki, told me her team was scouting out potential fits.
In the coming months, provided these early tests yield positive results, do not be surprised if a wave of popular podcast networks sign deals with streamers. The big question is whether they would accept the same exclusivity clause that Netflix asked of The Ringer and Barstool. Starker and Bizzarro both told me that reach and awareness are their primary goals, so such a deal would only make sense if the upfront payment were impossible to refuse.
2. Sports leagues ought to be media companies
A few months ago I spoke with Brian Szejka, formerly the publisher at Penske Media, who had taken a new role as the chief revenue officer at NBA Take-Two Media, a joint venture between the NBA and the video game company Take-Two.
In a follow-up conversation, Szejka and I discussed the space more broadly, but what really captured my attention was his claim that sports leagues have missed an opportunity: acting as media companies. So far, according to Szejka, only the NBA has begun to use its access to create content that tells stories about its players that extend beyond their lives as athletes, making their competitive set more similar to Complex or Uninterrupted than the NFL Network.
Take-Two sees that white space as its primary aim, creating video series with former players, launching social channels like NBAResDev, and using athletes’ love for video games to deepen gamers’ relationships with their favorite teams. The idea struck me as a no-brainer, especially given the astronomical popularity of sports and the production infrastructure they already have. I would be surprised if we did not see more of this in the future!
3. Apple Podcast’s HLS update is bigger than video
I thought I understood the importance of Apple Podcast’s HLS update, but the announcement last month goes deeper than just allowing podcasters to publish video versions of their shows alongside the audio versions.
According to Bryan Barletta, the cofounder of Sounds Profitable, the real unlock is that following this update, the video remains hosted by your podcast host—not the podcast platform or server.
So far, this only works for four different podcast hosting providers—Acast, ART19, Simplecast, and Omny Studio—but it has dramatic implications for ownership and ad monetization, according to Barletta.
