Media Business

Courtney Holt Exits Spotify After a Four Year Run

“A source close to the matter characterized it as an amicable decision prompted by Holt looking for other creative opportunities,” Ankler wrote.

Published

2 years ago

April 13, 2022

Eduardo Razo

Spotify is seeing the executive that brought over Joe Rogan, the Obamas, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to the streaming platform exit. The Ankler reports that Courtney Holt is departing Spotify, ending a four-year run with the company.

Holt’s looming departure as head of studios and videos arrives days after Lydia Polgreen announced that she would be leaving her managing director of Gimlet, a podcast studio at Spotify.

“A source close to the matter characterized it as an amicable decision prompted by Holt looking for other creative opportunities,” Ankler wrote.

“According to this source, Holt will stay as an advisor for 12 months; his workflow and team will be overseen by Max Cutler, head of new content initiatives at Spotify, and Julie McNamara, head of U.S. studios.”

The executive turnover at Spotify comes amid increasing internal questions about a string of monster eight and nine-figure podcast agreements supervised by Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s Chief Content & Advertising Business Officer.

Despite the spending, these podcast deals, at least so far, have not supplied expected results or driven a commensurate audience. Holt directed a request for a remark to Spotify; meanwhile, a spokesperson for Spotify declined to comment.

Eduardo Razo

Eduardo Razo is a news media writer for BNM, focusing on coverage of news/talk radio and news television. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at [email protected].

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Media Business

Broadcasters Foundation of America Honors Six with Leadership Awards

The honors were bestowed at the Foundation’s annual breakfast at the NAB Show in Las Vegas.

Published

13 mins ago

April 18, 2024

BNM Staff

A photo of the 2024 Broadcasters Foundation of America Leadership Award Winners

(Photo: Broadcasters Foundation of America)

The 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas has wrapped up, and the Broadcasters Foundation of America honored six industry veterans with their Leadership Award.

At the foundation’s annual breakfast at the NAB Show, it honored several leaders.

Erica Farber — who stepped down as CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau at the beginning of the month — was bestowed with the Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award. The honor is named after Clear Channel founder Lowry Mays, who died in September 2022.

Six other individuals were honored with the Leadership Award. Those included:

Mike McVay, President of McVay Media
Kathleen Kirby, Partner at Wiley
Don Bouloukos, CBS and ABC Radio Executive
Frank Comerford, Chief Revenue Officer and President of Commercial Operations for NBCU Local
John Rouse, Executive Vice President ABC Affiliate Relations
Traug Keller, President of ABC Radio Networks and Senior Vice President of ESPN Radio

BNM Staff

Media Business

Fox News Digital Marks 3 Straight Years Leading Multiplatform Minutes

On average, the network featured 111 million unique visitors per month to its digital platforms, including 5.8 million unique visitors to its mobile app.

Published

5 hours ago

April 18, 2024

BNM Staff

Fox News Digital finished the first quarter leading news brands in multiplatform minutes, marking the 12th consecutive quarter leading the category.

The network saw double-digit year-over-year growth in the sector with 9.8 billion multiplatform minutes, according to Comscore.

Additionally, Fox News led the first quarter in multiplatform views with 4.9 billion. On average, the network featured 111 million unique visitors per month to its digital platforms, including 5.8 million unique visitors to its mobile app in the first quarter.

Fox Business also saw victories in the business media sector. The YouTube channel for the network garnered 182 million views in the quarter, up 20% compared to the same time frame in 2023.

Also, FoxBusiness.com averaged 28.7 million unique visitors per month in the quarter, up 21% in year-over-year growth.

BNM Staff

Media Business

News/Talk Radio Well Represented in 2024 NAB Crystal Radio Award Winners

The winners were chosen by a panel of judges representing the broadcast industry, community service organizations, and public relations firms.

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2024

BNM Staff

The 2024 NAB Crystal Radio Award winners were announced during the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas Tuesday, and several news/talk radio stations took home honors.

The winners were chosen by a panel of judges representing the broadcast industry, community service organizations, and public relations firms.

KFI-AM 640 in Los Angeles, KSL Newsradio in Salt Lake City, and Newsradio 92.3 WNRP in Pensacola took home three of the 10 victories.

Other winners included:

KKBQ-FM Houston
KMVP-FM Phoenix
KNDE-FM College Station
WBZZ-FM Pittsburgh
WHPT-FM Tampa Bay
WJJY-FM Minneapolis-St. Paul
WLBC-FM Muncie

The NAB also awarded Hubbard Broadcasting’s KSTP-FM with its Crystal Heritage Award during the ceremony. The honor is given to stations that have won five Crystal Radio Awards, which has only been bestowed on 11 other stations.

BNM Staff