Wondery

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Wondery
Type Podcast network (subsidiary)
Country United States
Availability International
Owner Amazon Music (Amazon)
Established 2016
Official website
 wondery.com

Wondery is an American podcast network launched by Hernan Lopez with backing from 20th Century Fox and now owned by Amazon Music.

History

Wondery was launched in 2016 by Hernan Lopez, the exiting Fox International Channels CEO with backing from 20th Century Fox. The stated goal of the network is to curate and create audio shows with a focus on mobile users and audio-on-demand. The company teamed up with ART19 on distribution infrastructure and cross podcast dynamic insertion of ads.[1][2] Lopez was joined by Jeffrey Glaser, previously head of current programming at 20th Century Fox Television, where he oversaw series including 24, American Dad!, Arrested Development, Bones, Empire, Family Guy, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family and The X-Files. Glaser was appointed president of content.[3]

Within three years, Wondery became a top five podcast publisher with 40 million downloads in December 2018 alone. There were six 2019 iHeartRadio Podcast Award nominations for four of the publisher's show with one win: Dr. Death for Most Bingeable Podcast.[4]

The company's series A funding round in March 2018 brought in $5 million from investors including Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital venture-capital firms.[5] In June 2019, Wondery had a funding round of $10 million which indicates a value of over $100 million.[6] This series B funding was led by Waverley Capital. With the closing of the round, Former National Geographic Partners Chief Executive Declan Moore became Wondery's international programming head.[7]

The Walt Disney Company inherited Fox's stake in Wondery after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox's assets on March 20, 2019.[8]

Universal Music Group agreed in April 2019 to allow Wondery a license to use UMG music catalog and develop UMG artists' story podcasts, which then may be adapted into TV or film projects. Wondery would work with all UMG labels and with its Polygram Entertainment film and TV production unit.[9]

In early May 2019, Wondery and Cumulus Media announced a strategic alliance for new advertising opportunities and growing podcast listeners. The first item from the alliance is a Business Wars podcast franchise expansion, Sports Wars, would start airing on 40 Cumulus radio stations the first weekend in May and syndicated by Westwood One, a Cumulus subsidiary.[10]

In April 2020, Hernan Lopez CEO of Wondery was charged with wire fraud and money laundering in relation to attempts to win broadcast rights for Fox Broadcasting Company for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups.[11]

On April 28, 2020, Wondery announced a partnership with Al Jazeera Media Network to launch Business Wars and other flagship podcasts in Arabic via Al Jazeera Podcasts.[12]

On May 16, 2020, Wondery was accused of negotiating with the Call Her Daddy podcast hosts while they were still under contract with their parent company, Barstool Sports.[13]

On December 30, 2020, Amazon announced that they were acquiring Wondery under their Amazon Music division.[14]

Programming

Under the banner of Wondery, the network offers dozens of shows,[15] including:

Current programming
Year Title Host or Starring Genre Co-producer Notes Ref.
2021 Against the Odds Mike Corey and Cassie De Pecol
2018 American History Tellers Lindsay Graham History
2018 American Innovations Steven Johnson History [5]
2018 American Scandal Lindsay Graham Crime
2019 Bad Batch Laura Beil Crime
2019 Blood Ties Gillian Jacobs, Josh Gad, Amy Landecker, Dominic Monaghan, and Wayne Knight Audio drama
2018 Business Wars David Brown Business Won a Webby Award in 2019 and an iHeartRadio award in 2020 for Best Business & Finance Podcast [4]
2020 Death of a Starlet Tracy Pattin and Josh Lucas Crime
2017 Dirty John Christopher Goffard Crime Los Angeles Times Adapted into the Dirty John series for Bravo [9]
2018 Dr. Death Laura Beil Crime Won an iHeartRadio Podcast Award for Most Bingeable Podcast in 2019 [4]
2020 Even The Rich Aricia Skidmore-Williams and Brooke Siffrinn Society and culture A Wondery original series
2012 Generation Why Aaron Habel and Justin Evans Crime
2021 Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera Trace Lysette Crime
2018 Imagined Life Virginia Madsen and Robbie Daymond Society and culture Won a Quartz podcast Award in 2018 for "Best podcast on the human condition" and "Best new podcast" [16]
2018 Legal Wars Hill Harper History [5]
2021 MANslaughter Dorothy Marcic and Molly Peterson Crime
2019 Over My Dead Body Matthew Shaer and Robert Moor Crime
2020 The Dating Game Killer Stephen Lang and Tracy Pattin Crime
2019 The Mysterious Mr. Epstein Lindsay Graham Crime
2019 The Shrink Next Door Joe Nocera Crime [17]
2016 The Vanished Podcast Marissa Jones Crime
2017 Tides of History Patrick Wyman History
2022 Twin Flames Stephanie Beatriz Crime
2016 Real Crime Profile Jim Clemente, Laura Richards, and Lisa Zambetti Crime
2014 Stories Podcast Amanda Weldin and Dan Hinds Children's stories
The Daily Dish
2015 Juicy Scoop with Heather McDonald Heather McDonald Society and culture Midroll
Ruby Laura Esterman and Bill Raymond Audio drama ZBS Foundation
2019 Sports Wars Dan Rubenstein Sports A Business Wars franchise expansion on 40 Cumulus Media stations and syndicated by Westwood One [10]
2016 What Should I Read Next? Anne Bogel Books [18][19][20]
Past programming
Year Title Host or Starring Genre Co-producer Notes Ref.
2018 I, Survivor Jenna Brister and Wagatwe Wanjuki Society and culture [5]
2018 Inside Jaws Mark Ramsey Film [4]

References

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External links

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