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Four years after Amazon's $300 million acquisition of podcast network Wondery, the tech giant is dramatically restructuring its audio business.

This signals a major shift in its podcasting ambitions.

Wondery Folded into Audible and Creator Services

Amazon acquired Wondery in 2020, betting that exclusive podcast content could drive subscriptions to its Amazon Music platform — much like Spotify’s own podcast-centric strategy.

At the time, Wondery was known for top-charting narrative series such as American Scandal, Business Wars, and Dr. Death. But according to Bloomberg, Amazon is now dismantling much of the original Wondery operation.

The reorganization will affect approximately 110 employees, and Wondery CEO Jen Sargent will depart the company. Some affected staff will be reassigned to other departments, Amazon told The Verge.

Narrative-driven shows will now be handled by Audible, Amazon’s audiobook arm. Celebrity-hosted and video-centric podcasts — like New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce and Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard — will move to a newly formed Creator Services team.

“As video podcasting has grown in popularity, we have learned that creator-led, video-integrated shows have different audience needs and require distinct discovery, growth, and monetization strategies,” wrote Steve Boom, Amazon VP for Audio, Twitch, and Games, in a memo published by Deadline.

Wondery Plus App Still Active

While the Wondery studio is being broken up, some of its branding will remain.

The Wondery Plus app will stay live, offering early access to episodes. However, it's unclear whether its full functionality will remain separate from Audible’s expanding podcast features.

This shake-up comes as the podcast industry faces growing pressure to monetize. U.S. podcast advertising revenue is expected to reach $2.5 billion in 2025 and surpass $3 billion by 2028, per a forecast by eMarketer. 

Amazon has been promoting audio ads through both Amazon Music and Alexa, heavily pitching these formats during its annual advertising upfronts.

“The podcast landscape has evolved significantly over the past few years,” Boom noted, highlighting Amazon’s pivot toward more video-forward and sponsorship-driven models.

Whether the breakup of Wondery as a standalone unit will help or hurt Amazon's ambitions remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the future of podcasting, at least for Amazon, is less about traditional audio storytelling and more about video visibility and ad revenue.