SiriusXM will buy E.W. Scripps' podcast network and producer unit Stitcher for $325M; Scripps says Stitcher had $72.5M in 2019 revenue
According to E.W. Scripps, the $325 million price tag represents a return of more than 100% in its investment in podcasting over the last five years.
Context & Ripple Effects
E.W. Scripps is exiting podcasting at a markup few media deals match: it bought Stitcher from Deezer for $4.5M in 2016 (its $4.5M Stitcher purchase) and is now selling the network and producer unit to SiriusXM for $325M — roughly 4.5x Stitcher's $72.5M in 2019 revenue, and, by Scripps' own accounting, a return of more than 100% on its podcasting investment over five years.
The deal lands a week after reports that SiriusXM was near a ~$300M agreement (the near-deal report), and it follows the template Spotify set in 2019 with its ~$230M purchase of Gimlet Media and Anchor (Spotify's Gimlet and Anchor buys): big audio platforms buying networks and production studios outright to control supply.
First-order effects
- SiriusXM immediately gains Stitcher's podcast network, production unit, and ad business, adding original content to its subscription audio platform; Scripps books a greater-than-100% return and redeployable cash.
Second-order effects
- SiriusXM and Spotify are now direct rivals for the same scarce asset — established podcast networks — tightening supply and likely raising prices for the remaining independent producers and ad-sales firms.
Third-order effects
- The endgame visible in the corpus: SiriusXM later shut down the Stitcher app itself and folded subscribers into its flagship SXM app (the Stitcher app shutdown), suggesting the network and ad inventory were the real prize while standalone podcast apps consolidate into a handful of platform-owned destinations.
The trend: Podcasting is consolidating from independent networks into platform-owned content arms as SiriusXM and Spotify buy supply to differentiate their subscription and ad businesses.