SiriusXM president and chief content officer Scott Greenstein has written big checks to acquire two of the biggest online podcasts, paying $100 million-plus to air their shows on the satellite radio giant.
Greenstein said: “When you look at what’s going on with the bigger podcasts, we are testing constantly by having certain things exclusive, certain things behind the paywall. Eventually, we’re going to take a gamble, if we find the right podcast talent and a willingness on the talents’ part, to go behind the paywall, knowing we’ll lose some free listeners, like you always do.
“With those that’ll pay, if it’s enough, you’re now recreating the podcast model like satellite radio. So you can’t think of doing that without having your hands on a handful of the bigger ones to do it.”
