Entercom has announced it has acquired podcast production company Pineapple Street Media and the 55% of Cadence13 it did not already own and will fold both into its Radio.com division.
Pinneaple Street Media will be renamed Pineapple Street Studios to continue as an autonomous division with co-founders Jenna Weiss-Berman and Max Linsky serving as heads reporting to Entercom Chief Digital Officer JD Crowley.
Cadence13, which was known as DGital Media when Entercom acquired a 45% stake in 2017 will also continue as a separate division with CEO Spencer Brown, Chief Content Officer Chris Corcoran, and President John Murphy all joining Entercom. Entercom also states that they will continue to build its client roster with tie-ins to the company’s broadcast reach.
Additionally, Cadence13 will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Entercom, named Cadence13, a division of RADIO.COM, and will continue to operate as a leader in the podcast space, with a full slate of unique services for top creators including audience development, production and monetization. Spencer Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Cadence13, will join the new organization as head of the division, reporting into J.D. Crowley, Chief Digital Officer, Entercom. Chris Corcoran, Chief Content Officer, Cadence13, will continue to lead content for the division, and John Murphy, President, Cadence13, will also be part of the leadership team. Cadence13 will continue to partner with top podcasters such as Crooked Media and Pushkin Industries while also expanding its client roster, leveraging Entercom’s broadcast reach and RADIO.COM’s digital platform.
Entercom, the #1 creator of live, original, local audio content and the home of RADIO.COM, the fastest growing digital audio app in the United States, today announced that it has acquired Pineapple Street Media, an award-winning, renowned independent producer of top-rated podcast content, and reached an agreement in principle to acquire Cadence13, an industry leader in podcast creation and distribution, to create a powerhouse podcast division under RADIO.COM.
Through the strategic acquisitions of Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media, Entercom will become one of the country’s top three podcasters and a leading creator, distributor and seller of top-rated podcast content. The deal will bring together a combination of strengths to create a unique leadership position that leverages Entercom’s scale across the top 50 U.S. markets, reach of 170 million listeners per month, enhanced targeted data capabilities, and top-rated portfolio of spoken word brands, and both Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media’s capabilities as two of the industry’s leading developers and sellers of original podcast content. Podcast episodes published or distributed by Entercom, Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media were downloaded more than 150 million times per month in the second quarter of 2019.
Entercom will operate a best-in-class portfolio of top-rated podcasts, including Pineapple Street Media’s The Clearing which recently launched as the #1 podcast on the Apple Charts. The network will also include over half of the titles named to Apple’s “10 Best So Far” podcast list in 2019, with notable titles such as Root of Evil, Against the Rules, To Live & Die in L.A., Missing Richard Simmons, Running from COPS, Gangster Capitalism and Billy Balls, among many others. The addition of this best-in-class portfolio of podcast content, industry-leading creators and production capabilities will reinforce RADIO.COM’s position as a leading destination for live and on-demand digital audio content across news, entertainment, music and sports.
As part of the acquisitions, Pineapple Street Media will become Pineapple Street Studios, a division of RADIO.COM, focused on high-quality content creation and production of unique, market-leading original podcast content for both RADIO.COM, as well as the broader podcast ecosystem. The new Pineapple Street Studios will continue to produce hit shows and build on its position at the forefront of partnership podcasts with brands including Disney, HBO, Netflix, Nike and more. Pineapple Street co-founders, Jenna Weiss-Berman and Max Linsky, will join the new organization as co-heads of this division, reporting into J.D. Crowley, Chief Digital Officer, Entercom.
Additionally, Cadence13 will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Entercom, named Cadence13, a division of RADIO.COM, and will continue to operate as a leader in the podcast space, with a full slate of unique services for top creators including audience development, production and monetization. Spencer Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Cadence13, will join the new organization as head of the division, reporting into J.D. Crowley, Chief Digital Officer, Entercom. Chris Corcoran, Chief Content Officer, Cadence13, will continue to lead content for the division, and John Murphy, President, Cadence13, will also be part of the leadership team. Cadence13 will continue to partner with top podcasters such as Crooked Media and Pushkin Industries while also expanding its client roster, leveraging Entercom’s broadcast reach and RADIO.COM’s digital platform.
“Today marks another transformational event at Entercom and we are thrilled to welcome the outstanding teams and content partners at both Pineapple Street and Cadence13,” said David Field, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Entercom. “With these important acquisitions, Entercom will stand as a unique leader in the audio universe with both the greatest collection of premium, original local audio content along with arguably the best national podcast content. With RADIO.COM emerging as the fastest growing digital audio app in the country and Entercom Advanced Audio bringing to market a burgeoning set of data, analytics and attribution capabilities, we are well positioned to participate in the exciting audio renaissance and the powerful opportunities to work with our thousands of customers across the country on their increasingly important audio strategies.”
“It is an exciting day for all lovers of audio – creators, listeners and advertisers,” said J.D. Crowley, Chief Digital Officer, Entercom. “The leadership teams at both Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Media are the best in the business, and their tenacity, creativity and reputations are unmatched. The collection of leading content brands in the Cadence13 Podcast Network, coupled with their scale and leadership position with the advertising community, combined with the innovative slate forthcoming from Pineapple Street Studios will further strengthen RADIO.COM’s position as the premiere destination for live and on-demand audio news, entertainment, music and sports content in the U.S.”
“This is an incredibly exciting day for us and our team of podcast producers,” said Max Linsky, co-founder, Pineapple Street Media. “We started Pineapple three years ago with the simple goal of making great shows that found huge audiences, and joining forces with the amazing teams at Entercom and Cadence13 means we can do that at a scale we never imagined.” “This is an amazing time for podcasting,” said Jenna Weiss-Berman, co-founder, Pineapple Street Media. “This moment is unprecedented – the energy, the growth, the talent coming to the medium. I am thrilled to be working with the incredible leadership teams at Entercom and Cadence13.”
“Consolidation with Entercom will greatly accelerate the next phase of our growth,” said Spencer Brown, Chris Corcoran and John Murphy, founding partners of Cadence13. “Through its robust portfolio of broadcast radio stations and the RADIO.COM platform, Entercom offers Cadence access to a national audio platform that will accelerate revenue and development of our audience engagement efforts. This acquisition helps us extend the reach of our partners and build their audiences across the audio landscape.”
Telos Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor to Pineapple Street Media in this transaction.
