Wondery CEO Jen Sargent is departing the company as it undergoes a broader restructuring and a push toward video.The podcasting company, which was acquired by Amazon in 2021, will move its narrative podcast studio, which includes Dr. Death, American Scandal and Business Wars, to Audible, and will also see Wondery’s chief content officer Marshall Lewy joining Audible’s content team. The team responsible for Wondery’s creator-led, video-focused podcast shows such as New Heights and Armchair Expert will join Amazon’s Talent Services team, forming a new organization called Creator Services.About 110 people were laid off as part of the reorganization, according to a person familiar with the matter.Podcasts under the Creator Services team will continue to operate the studio under the Wondery brand and will be “working with a select number of top creators to drive scaled listenership and unlock broader and long-lasting relationships across Amazon,” according to an internal memo from Steve Boom, vice president of audio, Twitch and games. Matt Sandler will lead that team.LeBron James and his podcast, Mind the Game, which launched in April, are seen as the blueprint for this kind of effort, as audio and video episodes of his podcast were distributed across, including Prime Video, Amazon Music, Fire TV Channels, and Echo devices, and James also acted as a spokesperson for Prime Day.“The podcast landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years. As video podcasting has grown in popularity, we have learned that creator-led, video-integrated shows have different audience needs and require distinct discovery, growth and monetization strategies compared to audio-first, narrative series. The rise of video has also blurred the lines on what it means to be a podcast creator,” the memo reads.Sargent leaves the company seven years at Wondery, with the last four of under Amazon.“As a result of all these changes, Jen Sargent will be moving on to pursue new opportunities but will be helping us through this transition,” the memo states.Additionally, the company is creating a new team responsible for sponsorship advertising across Wondery and Amazon Music led by Angie More. Amy Grabisch and her team, who work on monetizing Amazon Music’s live programming, will also move to this team.“The podcast landscape has evolved significantly in the past few years, particularly with the rise of video-forward, creator-led content. These changes reflect that evolution and will streamline how Wondery integrates further into Amazon. By making these changes, we can better support creators in monetizing their content across multiple channels, help them expand their brand IP, and simplify the process for advertisers while making content more accessible to audiences wherever they prefer to consume it. This evolution builds on Wondery’s early success with video-forward shows and positions us to better serve creators, customers, and advertisers,” a spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement.The change also comes after Wondery has seen two of its big shows, Morbid and SmartLess, move to SiriusXM.
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