It\u2019s been a cold winter in the media industry with many companies announcing layoffs and hiring slowdowns. With so many publishers investing in podcast production since the pandemic, audio teams are not immune to the pressure the economy has put on media businesses.<\/p>\n
But publishers\u2019 podcasting operations may also be a bright spot. Companies like iHeartMedia, Tenderfoot TV, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are expanding their podcast teams as they believe the medium can grow, even in a dark time.<\/p>\n
When the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism asked over 300 media leaders where they will be investing more resources this year, 72% said they will be focusing on podcasts and digital audio, more than any other category, according to the annual \u201cJournalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2023\u201d report released on Jan. 10.<\/p>\n
Since December 2020, podcast job openings hit its peak in May of last year, according to job posting site Indeed. In May 2022, there were 442 jobs with the word \u201cpodcast\u201d in the job description, compared to 262 jobs in December 2020 (per 1 million total jobs). But last summer, podcast job openings declined, reaching 307 in December 2022. The largest month-to-month drop was from June to July, from 416 to 343 jobs. Jobs with \u201cpodcast\u201d in the title on Indeed\u2019s site also declined last year, from a peak of 21 jobs in May 2022 to 14 jobs in December.<\/p>\n
Reports by Bloomberg<\/a> and Vulture<\/a> also mention a contraction among podcast teams, especially at big organizations like SiriusXM, Spotify (and its Gimlet Media and Parcast studios), Acast, CNN and NPR.\u00a0<\/p>\n Companies that have gone through recent layoffs seem to be taking a cautious approach. Insider and Vice Media Group do not have any audio or podcast job openings at this time, according to their job portals. CNN has one job opening for its podcast arm on its portal, but it is a senior-level one: an audio executive producer<\/a> with a wide salary range of $183,000 to $340,700.<\/p>\n David Spiegel, CRO at Betches Media called the slew of investments in podcasting over the last couple of years a \u201cspending spree.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is, none of that is really returning the investment that they needed\u2026 interest rates are up, the economy is slightly uncertain, the ad market is a little shaky,\u201d Spiegel said. \u201cSo yeah, maybe we shouldn\u2019t go out and spend $200 million on something\u2026 It\u2019s like a sign of the times that these businesses have to be a little bit smarter, which I think everyone has to be in times of economic certainty.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a stark difference and always will be between companies that do podcasting unprofitably and those that do\u2026 2023 will put a sharp focus on those companies that are driving earnings,\u201d added Conal Byrne, CEO of the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. (In Q3 2022, iHeart\u2019s Digital Audio Group revenue was $254 million, up 23% year-over-year and its podcast revenue was $91 million, up 42% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA for the group grew 17% to $78,317 for the quarter.)<\/p>\n iHeartMedia is still hiring, according to Byrne.<\/p>\n When asked about recent reports on the contraction in the podcast space, Byrne said, \u201cWe scratch our heads a little bit at those reports. It feels completely, entirely different from our reality,\u201d Byrne said. \u201cNo hiring slowdown. Still on pace to grow and support the growth,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Smaller media companies are also continuing to plan for growth this year: Tenderfoot TV hired six new people in the last three months, including producers, editors, marketing and research employees, said president and co-founder Donald Albright. He plans to hire one to two more people in the next couple months. Tenderfoot and another media company (whose executive agreed to share this information on the condition of anonymity) have plans to double their podcast output this year; the executive at the latter company said they will also be hiring more staff to accommodate for those new shows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t plan on slowing down,\u201d said Albright.<\/p>\n A number of media companies posted new podcast job openings this month. Vox Media, for example, posted a job opening this week for a $200,000+ \u200b\u200bexecutive producer position<\/a> for its daily show \u201cToday Explained.\u201d<\/p>\n Legacy publishers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are also growing their audio teams. This week, the Times announced seven new hires<\/a>, mostly staffing up its flagship show \u201cThe Daily.\u201d A new audio programming team was created in December<\/a> to work on the Times\u2019 new audio app. Two people working on Opinion Audio shows were promoted last month<\/a> to develop and launch new shows.<\/p>\n This past week, The New York Times posted a development editor job for Serial Productions<\/a>, the podcast production company it acquired in 2020, to develop new shows. The Times also posted a producer job for \u201cThe Run Up,\u201d<\/a> the politics show it resurrected to cover the lead-up to the midterms last year, to lead the show towards the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal recently posted job openings for a head of news audio<\/a> (the salary range is notably $140,000 to $450,000), an executive producer to manage a team working to develop, launch and produce weekly feature podcasts and deeply reported, narrative series, an audio host\/producer<\/a> to develop and launch a new weekly interview podcast series, as well as a number of other audio producer<\/a> roles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nBut publishers still see opportunity for podcast growth\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n