See Ya, Stitcher
Eve Batey on the Big News of the Week
Hello, readers of The Squeeze! Eve Batey here — as Skye mentioned last week, I’m filling in for her while she enjoys a long-delayed trip overseas. While I’ve been working on a couple features for this publication, some breaking news this week put those on the back burner. Let’s get to it.
See Ya, Stitcher
If we agree that podcasting’s ongoing second wind began in 2007, when wide adoption of iPhones took the format from a multi-step upload to an iPod to a run-and-gun way to consume content, then Stitcher was there from some of the earliest gusts. Founded in 2008 as a VC-funded playback service (they called it an “internet radio service” in early press releases, phrasing that feels impossibly quaint these days), it changed hands again and again in subsequent years, eventually landing at SiriusXM, which is, arguably, an “internet radio service.” A full circle journey, perhaps?
Sirius bought the company in July 2020 for $325 million, big money compared to its previous sale for a reported $4.5 million in 2016. The uptick wasn’t just pandemic-era inflation, as by then the platform had evolved into a full-fledged studio via its Earwolf brand, which produces big-name podcasts like Comedy Bang Bang and How Did This Get Made?. By buying Stitcher, it bought those brands, and along with it an ad sales mechanism: Stitcher was also eventually parent company to add sales platform Midroll Media, making Stitcher a one stop shop.
Three years after that big ticket buy, though, Sirius is closing that shop for good — at least, the parts of the shop it’s decided it didn’t need. According to an announcement posted to Stitcher’s website and social media on Tuesday, Stitcher’s last day in operations will be on August 29. After that, users of its player must switch to the SiriusXM app (or a competing platform, needless to say), and paid subscribers to the Stitcher Premium product won’t be billed past that date.
The company didn’t provide a reason for the closure, responding to a request for comment with the concise “SiriusXM, the owner of Stitcher, is focused on incorporating podcasts into its flagship SiriusXM subscription business.” It’s worth noting, however, that Sirius (which also owns Pandora and reportedly pays radio host and longtime Sirius broadcaster Howard Stern over $100 million a year) laid off 8 percent of its workforce in March, losing 475 staffers across “nearly every department across SiriusXM,” CEO Jennifer Witz told staffers via memo at the time.
Those layoffs, pitched as a “restructuring,” were a reaction to the current “uncertain economic environment,” Witz said then, saying “We are entering into a new phase for our Company [sic]” in which leaders will “think differently about how our organization is structured.”
One of those different thoughts was apparently what parts of Stitcher need to remain: while previously, Sirius cut back on marketing, staff travel, and real estate, dropping full business units is a new one. Per the Hollywood Reporter, an internal memo from Sirius “chief product and tech officer Joe Inzerillo, chief ad revenue officer John Trimble and chief content officer Scott Greenstein” (not Witz, do with that what you will):
The scale and reach of our widely distributed podcasts has been and remains a crucial accelerant for our advertising sales business, while incorporating podcasts more holistically into our flagship SiriusXM subscription service will help to drive further growth. As a result, we have made the decision to sunset our stand-alone podcast listening app as we increase our focus on these priorities.
That’s a near-parody mouthful of corporate jargon (and there’s more where that came from, just scroll down to read it in full), and it’s hard to imagine feeling heartened as an employee to read that. (Which reminds me — if you’re a Stitcher or Sirius staffer, or have any information on the closure that you’d like us to know, hit reply on this newsletter, email directly at skyepillsatwork@gmail.com, or send Skye a DM on Twitter. Your anonymity is guaranteed.) Perhaps more heartening is that no layoffs are planned, THR reports, and “content production hubs Stitcher Studios and Earwolf” will continue as usual. That means the talent/podcast creation sides will continue, and the off-platform consumer market for those shows will not be impacted, a marked difference from the editorial layoffs we’ve seen at LAist or Gimlet in recent months.
As things stand today, there certainly no shortage of platforms one can use to access podcasts — if there were, podcast hosts would likely trade that ubiquitous “find us wherever you listen to podcasts” for a tagline that named actual names — but it’s arguably one of its most venerable brands, so it’s fair if its passing still sends a chill down our spines. To go from a purchase for $325 million to casting off its flagship offering just three years later feels like quite a fall; and with all due respect to the hard-working and talented creators at Earwolf or Stitcher Studios, it’s hard to imagine that those business units, alone, are worth that staggering figure. One can’t help but wonder if the real culprit are today’s uncertain times, or if we’re now seeing the fallout from an irresponsible exuberance of just a few years before.
Coverage elsewhere that might be of interest
SiriusXM to Sunset Stitcher Podcast App in August [Bloomberg] Bloomberg was the first to report on the shutdown, with a story that dropped exactly 15 minutes before the company’s official announcement.
The Stitcher podcast app is to close [Podnews] Worth a click for the lead image alone.
STITCHER FAREWELL [Stitcher] If you have ideas on how this could look more hastily slapped-together, I’m all ears.
That’s all for me this week! Have a great weekend.
Eve
Postscript: Major We’re-The-Phone-Company-And-We-Don’t-Care Vibes.
