Wondery CEO Jen Sargent Explains Amazon Primes Podcast Push

Publish date: 2024-08-15

When Amazon announced earlier this week its plans to make significant additions to the audio content that comes free with Amazon Prime membership, it was no surprise that podcasts were part of the expanded offering.

The company beefed up its podcast capabilities at the end of 2020 with its acquisition of Wondery, producers of notable podcasts including “Dr. Death” and “Dirty John.” Now Wondery is a key component of the effort to make audio a bigger part of the Prime experience, according to Wondery CEO Jen Sargent.

“Previously, we really haven’t turned on a strong audio benefit for Prime members, we haven’t made that a priority to let them know about it, and to lean into some of the things that we were already offering through the Amazon music service,” she said on the latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” “So this was an opportunity to add more value to our customers.”

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Sargent walked through the details of how Wondery-powered podcasts will be front and center in Prime going forward. “In my opinion, you know, podcasts are for everyone,” she said. “And there’s very little friction for consumers from a technical perspective to downloading and enjoying podcasts. So it seems like a natural place and extension that Amazon would go given their already strong footprint in music and audiobooks podcasts.”

Also on this special double episode of “Strictly Business,” an interview with Audacy Chief Digital Officer J.D. Crowley, who lays out the company’s struggle to sell Wall Street on its vision for the future, and the big part podcasts play in that strategy.

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud.

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