Stitcher was a media company that specialized in the creation, distribution, and monetization of

podcasts A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...

. Stitcher created original shows through networks such as

Earwolf Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. initially built around the ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'' podcast, the network has since grown to include many podcasts on diverse subjects. ...

and Witness Docs. Stitcher provided ad sales and distribution services to 300+ shows. Stitcher was home to one of the largest podcast listening apps. In July 2020, it was acquired by

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

. The acquisition was finalized by 19 October 2020.

History

Stitcher was founded in 2008 by Noah Shanok, Mike Ghaffary, and Peter deVroede. The company began with just its listening app, entitled "Stitcher", and was venture-backed until 2014 when the company was acquired by

Deezer Deezer is a List of companies of France, French music streaming service and media service provider founded in 2007 that provides users with access to a vast library of music tracks, podcasts, and radio stations. It offers streaming services in ...

. In 2016, Deezer sold Stitcher for $4.5 million to Midroll Media, a digital media company founded in 2012 which had been acquired by E.W. Scripps Company in 2015. In 2017, Midroll Media underwent a rebranding, making Stitcher the parent company to Midroll Media and Earwolf, another entity under the E.W. Scripps network. In July 2020,

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...

acquired the Stitcher company for $325 million. Following the acquisition, Sirius XM integrated Stitcher's exclusive podcasts into its additional music and podcast listening service,

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

. At the peak of its popularity, Stitcher was reported to have nearly 14.5 million weekly users. In June 2023, Stitcher announced that the podcast service would be discontinued on August 29, 2023, as the parent company, SiriusXM, wanted to focus on incorporating podcasts into the flagship SiriusXM subscription. The production side of the company, Stitcher Studios and Earwolf, were expected to continue.

Operations

Users could listen to and download podcasts through Stitcher's mobile apps on

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

or Android, as well as through dedicated hardware integrations such as

Sonos Sonos, Inc. is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. The company was founded in 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen, and Trung Mai. Sonos has partnered with over 100 companies th ...

Apple CarPlay CarPlay and CarPlay Ultra is an Apple Inc., Apple standard that enables a car radio or automotive head unit to be a display and controller for an iOS device. It is available on iPhone 5 and later models running iOS 7.1 or later. More than 800 ...

, Android Auto,

Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa is a virtual assistant technology marketed by Amazon and implemented in software applications for smart phones, tablets, wireless smart speakers, and other electronic appliances. Alexa was largely developed from a Polish speech s ...

, or through a

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

. Stitcher also offered Stitcher Premium, a subscription service that allowed listeners to access exclusive ad-free podcasts, which was announced at the end of 2016 and went live early 2017. Stitcher operated three original content networks with over fifty shows from

(home to shows like '' Comedy Bang! Bang!'', '' Office Ladies'', '' How Did This Get Made?''), Witness Docs (''Unfinished: Deep South'', ''The Dream'', ''Verified''), and Stitcher Originals (''The Sporkful'', ''By The Book'', ''Science Rules!'').

Reception

Stitcher's revenue has been reported to increase 42% year over year, with its 2019 revenue reaching $73 million. Prior versions of the app have been recognized as one of the best podcast apps for both Android and iOS.

References

External links

* * * {{Podcast distribution platforms, state=expanded Internet radio in the United States Android (operating system) software BlackBerry software IOS software Companies based in San Francisco Discontinued software Android Auto software Podcasting companies Podcasting software Internet properties disestablished in 2023 2023 disestablishments in New York City American companies disestablished in 2023

History

Operations

Reception

See also

References

External links