Amazon Is the Dismantling Podcast World. Here’s Why the Kelce Brothers Are Its Radical New Future

When Amazon acquired Wondery for $300 million, the assumption was that it wanted a podcast company. What the tech giant actually wanted was something far more ambitious.

In August, Amazon dramatically restructured its podcasting company, eliminating over 100 jobs at Wondery. What emerged was a new department called Creator Servicesdevoted to video podcasts.

The definition of “creator” has grown increasingly elastic, as Amazon advertising executive Angie More told The New York Timesthe term now stretches to cover nearly anyone—an actor, an artist, or even an ASMR influencer.

This broadness hints at the scale of what Amazon is building. Over the past six months, a clearer vision has taken shape: Rather than simply selling ads on podcasts, Amazon wants to build entire worlds around its shows and monetize them directly.

The concept isn’t entirely new, as SiriusXM and Dear Media have already begun extending their hosts commercial reach beyond the mic, from social media ads to live events to branded products. Many top podcasters had become entrepreneurs in their own right, with Alex Cooper selling energy drinks and Mel Robbins launching her own protein shots.

“We really saw this opportunity where it wasn’t just about a podcast,” said Steve Boom, an Amazon vice president who oversees audio, games, and the streaming service Twitch told The New York Times. “It was about how these creators could work in multiple parts of Amazon.”

Yet, Amazon went further than anyone else by dismantling Wondery entirely. Audio-only podcasts were folded into Audible, while Creator Services was assembled from other departments to cultivate this new model around on-camera talent like Dax Shepard, Keke Palmer, and LeBron James, whose shows still carry the Wondery name.