It looks like the penny-pinching SiriusXM is throwing John Malone’s money around in the unproven area of podcasting.
SiriusXM dropped $150 million on Conan O’Brien’s podcasting ventures – and threw in a dedicated Team Conan channel in a five-year agreement that looks a lot like the successful arrangement they had with Howard Stern who arguably put them on the map.
Crazy money considering what they could have done with the $150 million if they spent it on their many programming channels instead of cheap talent and computer driven formats.
Is SiriusXM starting to hedge its radio bet?
They’ve already outspent their radio competitors except for iHeart which begs the real question why is everyone willing to spend on podcasts while investing in better radio programming seems like so 1990’s.
Debt-ridden radio companies can’t spend Sirius kind of money on podcasting without tanking their stock and meeting resistance from investors.
But radio they have an answer – the question is, is it the right answer?
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