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Amazon to buy podcast maker wondery6/6/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() today said that it has signed a deal to buy Wondery Inc., a venture-backed podcast startup with a reported audience of 20 million monthly listeners. (A representative for Amazon Music declined to share updated figures but said the podcast’s monthly numbers have “grown exponentially month over month” since the February launch.) Though new and existing episodes of Strange, Dark and Mysterious will now be housed exclusively on Amazon Music, Allen will still be able to upload content to his YouTube channels: MrBallen, with 6.7 million subscribers, and MrBallen Shorts, a separate channel dedicated to shorter-form content with 2.1 million Inc. The show originated on YouTube in March 2020, when Allen - usually seen wearing a backwards baseball cap and flannel shirt - began recounting “DISTURBING” and “TERRIFYING” (all-caps included) stories on the video platform and quickly built a dedicated fan following.īy February of this year, Allen launched the podcast version of his show - sans video - and found quick success as of June, Strange, Dark and Mysterious was generating nearly 7 million monthly downloads as a podcast while Allen’s YouTube videos brought in more than 40 million monthly views, according to The Verge. The MrBallen Podcast has become a runaway hit since launching as a podcast in February, topping charts on both Apple Podcasts and Spotify in the true-crime category. Working with Amazon Music allows us to do just that,” Allen said. I will always be dedicated to bringing them the best, and continually raising the bar with the art of storytelling. “The Strange, Dark and Mysterious community is the only reason I have the platform that I do today. Amazon - with its Amazon Studios, Prime Video and Prime shopping arms - would naturally be poised to support those expansions. In a statement shared on Tuesday, Allen said Ballen Studios has ambitions to expand into TV, film, books and games. ![]() Amazon will also have the first-look rights to new ventures from Allen’s media company, Ballen Studios, which counts former Night Media manager Nick Witters as its CEO and former Cadence13 executive vp Steve Cohen as its head of sales. The three-year deal with Allen, brokered by UTA, is also expansive for a homegrown podcast creator in that it doesn’t end with audio. Now, the tech giant is placing its exclusivity bets on Allen and the Ballen brand, hoping that the rising star can burnish its audio streaming platform as it competes with Spotify and Apple for listeners and talent. In turn, Amazon - which certainly has the money to spend - would get a slice of these shows’ lucrative ad businesses and build its reputation as a go-to place for top creators turned off by the prospects of a walled garden, which could potentially result in a decline in listenership and reach. In competing with Spotify, which set the standard for exclusive podcasts through its multimillion-dollar deals with Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper, Amazon appeared to be forging down a different path by offering talent the best of both worlds: the multimillion-dollar riches of an exclusive deal, without the major commitment. Podcast Advertising Sees Slowdown in 2022, Even as Growth Rate Outpaces Other Digital Mediums
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