The Ringer’s Bill Simmons: “You can’t just be famous and have a podcast”

It’s no surprise that Bill Simmons is “bullish” about the future of podcasting. Spotify’s head of podcast monetization and innovation and founder of The Ringer podcast network shared some thoughts on the podcast industry in a discussion with Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw at the Screentime conference on Thursday.

Although Simmons acknowledged that “some mistakes” were made, his view is that in 2023, people are more informed about what makes a good podcast and what the challenges are. “I actually am pretty bullish because I think we’re moving onto a new era, wherever it’s going,” said Simmons about the podcast industry.

One area that Simmons thought the podcast industry had come to a consensus on was the hit-or-miss nature of celebrity podcasts. “You can’t just be famous and have a podcast. It can’t just be the sixth thing. It can’t be something that you didn’t spend any time on.”

Simmons gave Strike Force Five and SmartLess as two examples of podcasts where the celebrity hosts focused on churning out a high-quality show and reaped the rewards. “Everybody started to realize that the stuff that is elevated above is the stuff that’s good,” said Simmons.

Shaw pressed Simmons a bit on this, asking if the notion of “focus on quality” seems kind of obvious. I’m a bit with Shaw on this. I don’t think anyone in the podcast industry intentionally sets out to make a bad podcast, though that can sometimes be the outcome. Also, many “high-quality” podcasts can still fail to draw a large enough audience to be sustainable.

But Simmons insisted that a focus on quality wasn’t standard practice throughout the industry — even as recently as 2021. “It wasn’t obvious two years ago. Like think of the deals you were reporting on, with people with production companies that have never done a podcast or talent who have never recorded a podcast,” said Simmons.

SiriusXM and the hosts of Vibe Check, Sam Sanders, Saeed Jones, and Zach Stafford, have inked a one-year renewal deal. The weekly podcast will continue to be produced by Stitcher Studios, SiriusXM’s podcast studio. SXM Media will have exclusive global ad sales rights, including audio and video inventory.

Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios will launch Ghost Story, a seven-episode nonfiction podcast hosted by journalist Tristan Redman. Described as a combination of “a ghost story, a murder investigation, and an intergenerational family drama,” the podcast will launch on October 23rd.

Spotify and Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network have signed an exclusive ads sales partnership. Megaphone will host and distribute the two Unwell Network podcasts, Hot Mess with Alix Earle and Pretty Lonesome with Madeline Argy. The shows will also be monetized through Spotify direct sales and the Spotify Audience Network.

Dateline NBC will launch Morrison Mysteries on October 23rd on all podcast players. The podcast is hosted by Dateline’s Keith Morrison, who will recount numerous tales of “the most suspenseful and chilling works of fiction you’ll ever hear.” You can listen to a trailer here.

Omni-American Future Project, a coalition of Black and Jewish leaders who aim to fight racism and antisemitism through jazz music, has launched Straight Ahead. The bi-weekly podcast is hosted by Greg Thomas and Aryeh Tepper. During the most recent episode, which aired yesterday, Aryeh and Greg discuss Hamas’ October 7th assault on Aryeh’s southern Israeli town of Ofakim.

Rolling Stone published a disturbing report about the abuse allegations leveled against Last Podcast on the Left (now former) co-host Ben Kissel. Last week, co-hosts Marcus Parks and Henry Zebrowski announced that they were parting ways with him.

New York Public Radio CEO LaFontaine Oliver appeared on The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about the WNYC layoffs and podcast cancellations. He echoed the same sentiments he shared with staff in internal meetings, citing the downturn in advertising and sponsorship and pointing in particular to how the strikes in Hollywood have taken away ad dollars usually spent on promoting films and TV shows. When Lehrer asked why they did not pursue broad pay cuts in order to preserve jobs, he said, “We unfortunately found ourselves in a position, like a lot of other organizations, where it just simply wasn’t not enough. We needed to take more additional measures in order to put ourselves on a pathway for long-term sustainability.”