Legacy Media Can't Build Talent. So They're Renting It.

Hey there, welcome to another look into the intersection of podcasting x investing.

Over the last week, we had numerous announcements around talent in the podcast & creator industries, as well as a monumental shake-up in late-night television. For this week’s deep dive, I want to explore the future of talent and its relationship to the general themes we’ve covered over the last few weeks (Why Netflix Needs Podcasts, Audio vs. Video… And Why I Don’t Care, etc.).

But first, some quick hits:

• Inbound from last week’s edition was great, and turned into some very interesting discussions. How to combine forces to take the next step, raising money to acquire, etc. Keep it coming!

• Speaking of, Audioboom acquired Adelicious, which together now makes them the largest podcast network in the UK. Hey, time to scale, am I right? [PodNews]

• Kaleidoscope, a podcast company aiming to be the National Geographic of audio, has closed a $5 million Series A round. Investors included North Base Media, Hubert Berda Media, Raine Group, and Tom Freston. Congrats, Oz & Mangesh! [Semafor]

• Coldplay concerts are actually awesome, and while I absolutely loved all of the memes over the last week, I will not tolerate the strays the band took.

• As mentioned previously, several companies in the space are looking to raise capital in the coming weeks, both in content & tech. If you’re a founder looking to take the next step or an investor wondering where the puck is moving, reach out.

Next week, we’ll feature our mid-year Executive Climate Survey, where I ask ~60 execs where they think the podcast industry is, and where it’s headed. If you aren’t yet subscribed, feel free to smash that subscribe button here.

Alright, let’s talk talent.

As mentioned above, last week seemed to bring an avalanche of talent deals:

• Fox News announced its partnership with the Ruthless podcast, continuing a broader foray into podcasts by the larger corp.

• Not to be outdone, Fox Sports announced a broad partnership with Barstool Sports, which will bring popular podcast talent to the network for live sports, as well as a daily live Barstool show on FS1 (the model we touched on previously for Netflix and YouTube)

• Nick Cannon and Wondery are launching a new podcast that reimagines late-night talk shows

For the licensing deals, it shows us that legacy networks aren’t building the next generation of talent — they’re renting it from podcast networks. And one of the reasons these shows — as well as all the others from Theo Von to Call Her Daddy — have been successful is that they’re able to connect with their audiences in a way that legacy media cannot. Why? Because there’s no format clock. There are no rules. If Joe Rogan wants to talk to a politician for five hours — that’s fine. But when the same politician goes on CNN? They get a few minutes. You cannot connect in a few minutes.