Audacy, American Public Media to End Podcast Deal

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, August 14, 2023 | 4:28pm CT

Audacy and American Public Media

Audacy's Cadence13 and 2400 Sports will end a multi-year advertising partnership on August 31 with American Public Media, reports The Vege. Tsering Yangchen, a spokeswoman for American Public Media, said the companies "have mutually decided to end their partnership given the changing market dynamics." APM will now handle its ad sales in-house from now on.

APM has been in partnership with Cadence13 since June 2021, when the brands inked a multi-year contract to produce original podcast content. The deal at the time proclaimed, "unmatched opportunities for scale and development." Part of the contract was the promotion of APM's content via Audacy's network.

Audacy said last week that its decision to part ways with APM over an un-named podcast was part of a cost-cutting strategy in order to increase profitability. "We believe exiting this agreement will have a positive impact on our podcast margins, without materially impacting our future podcast revenue growth opportunity," the company said in its second quarter report.

While the exact reasons behind the early termination remain undisclosed, APM cited "changing market dynamics," while Audacy referred to the agreement as "onerous." As a result, APM will manage ad sales and brand partnerships for its podcasts in-house.