Amazon is breaking up its Wondery podcast studio as consumption of the medium shifts to video and personality-driven shows, according to a memo viewed by Business Insider.
About 110 people are being let go as a result, including Wondery’s CEO Jen Sargent, a person familiar with the matter told BI.
Wondery has a track record of producing strong narrative podcasts, some of which turned into TV shows like “Dirty John” and “Dr. Death.”
But podcasting has increasingly been dominated by personality-driven shows — like those from Joe Rogan, Mel Robbins, and Amy Poehler — and video podcasts, particularly on YouTube. In a sign of this shift, Pineapple Street Studios, which distinguished itself with prestige narrative documentary podcasts like “Missing Richard Simmons” and “Heaven’s Gate,” shut down in June.
“The podcast landscape has evolved significantly in the past few years, particularly with the rise of video-forward, creator-led content,” Amazon said in a statement on the reorg.
In recognition of these market conditions, Amazon is separating the teams that make its narrative podcasts from those that develop its creator-led shows. The narrative podcasts will move to Amazon’s audiobook division, Audible, where they’ll focus on audio-led storytelling. Wondery will seek to build out its big-name podcasts like Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast “New Heights,” which are sold as part of bespoke ad sponsorship packages, similar to how deals are done with Amazon Music.
“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,” Amazon said.
Bloomberg earlier reported on the reorg.
Here’s the memo to staff from Steve Boom, Amazon VP overseeing audio and music, Twitch, and games, explaining the changes.
Hi all, Wondery joined Amazon in 2021 to bring their unparalleled expertise in narrative podcasts in-house and to provide even more high-quality, innovative content to audiences wherever they listen. Since then, Wondery has continued its track record of producing chart-topping and award-winning narrative podcasts (including Podcast of the Year wins in 2021, 2022 and 2025). Wondery also expanded its presence into video-forward, creator-led podcasts, working with some of the world’s culture-moving talent. As a result, more customers are listening to Wondery content than ever before, and podcast revenue has grown by more than 4x. 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. As a result, we have adapted to meet creators’ needs across several ATG businesses, with deep relationships not only at Wondery, but also at Audible, Twitch, Amazon Music, Games, and Talent Services. In light of these learnings, we’ve decided the best and most efficient way to serve customers is by separating the teams that oversee Wondery’s narrative podcast efforts from those developing its creator-led shows, and by consolidating those divisions into other ATG businesses that have shared capabilities. These changes will not only better align our teams as they work to take advantage of the strategic opportunities ahead but, even more crucially, will ensure we have the right structure in place to deliver the very best experience to creators, customers and advertisers. Unfortunately, these changes also include some role reductions, and we have notified those employees this morning. The following changes to our organization are effective today: Narrative Podcasts will move to Audible We will combine Wondery’s narrative podcast studio (including its slate of award-winning podcasts such as Dr. Death, American Scandal, and Business Wars) with Audible. This integration will strengthen Audible’s position as a leader in immersive and premium audio content, while continuing to invest in the quality series that Wondery and Audible listeners have come to expect. Coinciding with this change, the Wondery+ subscription will also move under Audible (with more details to come later this year). Wondery’s Chief Content Officer Marshall Lewy will be joining Audible’s content team. The newly combined team will report throughout the Audible organization. Wondery’s creator-led content team will move to Creator Services The team responsible for Wondery’s creator-led podcast studio and shows will join our Talent Services team, forming a new organization we will call Creator Services. This change unites Wondery’s growing slate of hit creator-led shows (including Mind the Game, New Heights, Armchair Expert) with Talent Services’ portfolio of strategic deals that span multiple businesses across Amazon. This new team will continue to operate our creator-led podcast studio under the Wondery brand, working with a select number of top creators to drive scaled listenership and unlock broader and long-lasting relationships across Amazon. Creator Services will be led by Matt Sandler, who will continue reporting to me. Ads & Monetization for Wondery and Amazon Music We see a bigger opportunity to help creators maximize revenue through advertising and sponsorship, so I am creating a new team responsible for sponsorship advertising across Wondery and Amazon Music. This team will be led by Angie More, who will report to me. Angie has done an incredible job scaling Wondery’s brand advertising and sponsorship sales to-date, and she and her existing Wondery advertising team will continue to work closely with Amazon Ads to onboard new advertisers to Amazon. Amy Grabisch and her team, who are currently responsible for monetizing Amazon Music’s live programming, will move to this new org. This integrated approach will make it easier for advertisers to work with Amazon shows, creators, and IP, and I am excited to see what this team can accomplish in this space. 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. I’d like to thank Jen for her leadership of Wondery and her partnership with me and the ATG leadership team throughout the past four years. Upon acquisition, Jen stepped up into the CEO role and has led Wondery through many impressive milestones. Under Jen’s leadership, Wondery has produced chart-topping and award-winning narrative podcasts, resulting in 84 #1 hits globally across Apple and Spotify. Jen has also led the team through seven successful podcast-to-TV series adaptations (including the recent Emmy-nominated series on FX, Dying for Sex), and has expanded Wondery’s presence into the successful creator-led podcasts we have today. Jen’s leadership has been instrumental in Wondery’s success, and we are grateful for her ongoing support and perspective. While this is the right organizational structure for the future success of the business, our partners, and our customers, in conjunction with these changes we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce some roles within Wondery. We have notified colleagues whose roles were impacted across the org in North America and Costa Rica, and we are dedicated to handling this transition with care and respect. In other countries, we are following the required legal procedures which require additional time and steps, and we will communicate with affected employees in those regions accordingly. To those of you impacted, I want to sincerely thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the Wondery business, to our team, and to our customers. Your creativity, dedication, and hard work have helped establish Amazon as a leader in audio entertainment and creator partnerships. We are working on an individual level to ensure all impacted employees are given the support they need, including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits and more. Your HRBPs are available for conversations, and we have a licensed counselor available 24/7 through our Employee Assistance Program (US Phone: 1-833-721-2323). To those continuing with us on this next chapter, additional communication will be shared from your leadership team this week. We’re proud of the work we’ve done together, and we remain excited about what lies ahead for Wondery, Creator Services, and Audible, as we focus on building for creators and customers. Thank you, Steve
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