Wondery And NPR Announce Licensing Deal For "How I Built This" Podcast

 Why this deal is bad for podcast fans

 

 Wondery has announced an exclusive licensing deal for NPR's chart-topping podcast How I Built This, conceived by Guy Raz, who also hosts the program. New episodes of How I Built This will drop twice a week on Amazon Music and Wondery+ one week early, and will stream ad-free for Wondery+ and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers and Prime members. How I Built This will continue to be available for fans to stream on all podcast services after the one-week exclusive window, and on the radio as usual. In the deal, Wondery has exclusive commercial ad sales rights, as well as the rights to YouTube distribution for video simulcasts. NPR will retain radio distribution and underwriting.

 What's notable about this announcement for podcast listeners? After all, it's just another business licensing deal, right? If you read that first paragraph, How I Built This will a one-week exclusive window for Wondery + subscribers. 

Many podcast fans who like free podcasts instead of subscriptions and paywalls view deals like the Amazon / NPR deal as much ado about nothing. Instead, the exclusive listening window --usually accompanied by ad-free episodes -- signals that critical tiered strategy toward a more restrictive and subscription-based podcasting universe. 

 Wondery, an Amazon company, is a premium podcast studio known for podcasts such as Dr. Death, The Shrink Next Door, Even the Rich and Business Wars. Wondery is behind seven of the "Top 10 New Shows of 2021", according to Podtrac.

Check out this quote from the press release and what the Wondery CEO focuses on.

"NPR and Guy Raz have built an extremely successful podcast and fanbase with How I Built This and we are excited to bring the show one week early for our listeners," said CEO of Wondery, Jen Sargent. "We are thrilled to announce this strategic collaboration and continue to bring customers around the world even more innovative, popular content with dynamic creators."

"We have been proud to help Guy Raz realize his vision for How I Built This as he and the How I Built This team at NPR have grown it from a podcast to a radio show, events, a summit and a movement," said Anya Grundmann, SVP of Programming at NPR. "How I Built This has been a groundbreaking franchise that has allowed NPR to branch out in many ways, now it is allowing us to collaborate with Wondery on this licensing deal that will help fund public radio's mission and new programming."

How I Built This launched in 2016 and it quickly became one of the most popular business podcasts in the U.S. In 2017 Planet Money/How I Built This premiered on the radio, where it is currently carried by 354 public radio stations. How I Built This has been recognized by the New York Times, Inc, Fortune and was named one of the ten podcasts that shaped the last decade by Harper's Bazaar. In 2022, the program was awarded an iHeartMedia award for Best Business Podcast.