Internal memo reveals Sony Music's plans to double down on podcast ad sales strategy with four new executive hires
- Sony Music just announced the hire of four new executives to lead its podcast ad sales team.
- The news comes after the world's largest music company signed several podcast production deals with companies including The Onion and filmmaker Adam McKay.
- The new hires are Emily Rasekh, SVP of business development and operations; Brittany Hall, VP of podcasting sales; Ryan Zack, VP of podcasting revenue operations; and Christy Mirabal, VP of podcasting marketing.
- Sony wants to capitalize on an industry that analysts expect to reach $1.6 billion in global revenue by 2022.
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Sony Music has placed a big bet on podcasts as a key source of ad revenue, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider announcing four new executive-level hires to lead sales and marketing for that part of the business.
The news follows a series of announcements expanding Sony's podcast business around the world.
Sony's strategy "includes [the] creation of high quality shows across all key podcasting genres and a global vision to develop our podcasting expertise in key markets around the world," wrote Dennis Kooker, president of US sales and global digital business, and Tom Mackay, president of Sony Music Film and TV A&R, in the memo that went out to staff this afternoon.
Sony is staffing up to sell ads for a number of high-profile podcasts on topics like Jeffrey Epstein
This shift began in May, when Sony Music formed Three Uncanny Four, a new partnership with Adam Davidson, co-founder of NPR's "Planet Money," and Laura Mayer, former producer at WNYC and Megaphone (formerly Panoply Media), among others.
Since then, the company has signed production deals with The Onion; UK-based, minority-owned Broccoli Content; and director Adam McKay of "The Big Short," who will create several podcast series including one based on the life of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sony's podcast team will be led by SVP of Business Development and Operations Emily Rasekh; VP of podcasting sales Brittany Hall, VP of Revenue Operations, Podcasting Ryan Zack; and VP of Marketing, Podcasting Christy Mirabal.
Rasekh was with Entercom Communications, the country's second-largest radio broadcaster, which merged with CBS Radio in 2017. Hall joins Sony from streaming giant Pandora. Zack managed operations at podcast tech company Megaphone, and Mirabal oversaw partnerships, sponsorships, and editorial content at internet radio brand Stitcher.
Analysts see the podcast space as a rapidly growing source of revenue for media companies
"Together this leadership team strongly positions us to super-serve the podcast community, help them reach larger audiences on more platforms and further grow our podcasting business opportunities around the world," wrote Kooker and Mackay.
Sony, the world's largest music company by revenue, brought in $7.2 billion last year, with more than $2 billion of that total coming from streaming.
Last month the company stated that global streaming revenues had risen 21.4% year-over-year, most of it from music, as Sony is still new to podcasting. Overall, podcasts are estimated to produce $1.6 billion in global revenue by 2022, according to PwC.
Here's the full memo below.