Amazon pivots Wondery to video

Amazon is breaking up Wondery’s podcast business and rebuilding it around Audible and a new creator-focused unit. (reuters.com) (businessinsider.com) About 110 employees were laid off in the August 4, 2025 reorganization, and Wondery chief executive Jen Sargent was set to leave after a transition period. (reuters.com) (podnews.net) Amazon moved Wondery’s narrative shows, including *Business Wars*, *Dr. Death* and *American Scandal*, into Audible. Creator-led shows such as *New Heights* and *Armchair Expert* were shifted into a new Creator Services group. (reuters.com) (fastcompany.com) In a memo to staff, Amazon audio executive Steve Boom said video podcasts now need different discovery, growth and monetization than audio-first narrative series. He wrote that video had blurred what it means to be a podcast creator. (reuters.com) (fastcompany.com) The company’s own numbers show why Amazon did not treat this as a retreat from podcasts altogether. Boom said Wondery revenue had quadrupled since Amazon acquired the studio in 2021 as it expanded into video podcasts and creator-driven series. (reuters.com) (businessinsider.com) The reorganization also split Amazon’s podcast business by format and by sales strategy. Podnews reported that ads and sponsorship were merged with Amazon Music, while Creator Services was built to handle bigger personality-driven franchises. (podnews.net) (businessinsider.com) Seven months later, Amazon took the consumer-facing step that made the strategy plain. On March 3, 2026, it told users the Wondery app and Wondery+ subscription service would be discontinued in the coming months. (forbes.com) (variety.com) Audible replaced it with an $8.99-a-month Standard plan that includes the popular podcasts previously sold through Wondery+, one audiobook credit each month, and ad-free Audible original podcasts. (forbes.com) Amazon bought Wondery in late 2020 for a reported $300 million, during the period when podcast studios were being valued as stand-alone audio businesses. The new structure treats the same shows as inventory that can live inside Audible, video platforms and broader creator deals. (forbes.com) (reuters.com) Amazon did not kill the Wondery name. It kept the brand for selected creator-led shows, but the dedicated Wondery app is going away and the old audio-first model is not coming back. (fastcompany.com) (forbes.com)