In a shocking move to audiophiles, Stitcher is shutting down. Tuesday, Stitcher parent company SiriusXM announced its intentions to sunset the service by the end of the summer, with a date of August 29th targeted for taking both Stitcher’s website and mobile app offline. Instead of using Stitcher as a separate standalone service, Sirius noted in a statement on the platform’s site that it’s hoping podcast listeners will tune into the company’s flagship app instead.
“SiriusXM, the owner of Stitcher, is focused on incorporating podcasts into its flagship SiriusXM subscription business. Subscribers can listen to podcasts within the SiriusXM app and will see an all-new listening experience later this year,” the company writers in a farewell notice. “All podcasts on Stitcher can also be found anywhere else podcasts are distributed.”
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While the bones of the Stitcher platform will no longer remain, SiriusXM also revealed its intentions to continue using the name through the company’s studios. Both Stitcher Studios and Earwolf, studios that produce both scripted and unscripted content, are still expected to operate as normal.
SiriusXM executives doubled down on the closure in an internal memo sent to employees on Tuesday.
“Podcasts are an important part of both our subscription and advertising strategies,” the company wrote in the memo (via Variety). “The scale and reach of our widely distributed podcasts has been and remains a crucial accelerant for our advertising sales business, while incorporating podcasts more holistically into our flagship SiriusXM subscription service will help to drive further growth. As a result, we have made the decision to sunset our standalone podcast listening app as we increase our focus on these priorities.”
It added, “On the content side, through our reorganization earlier this year, which moved podcast programming alongside comedy and entertainment, we are able to give legendary podcasters a new platform on SiriusXM while also introducing the biggest stars on our roster to podcasting.”
Furthermore, it’s expected no layoffs will take place as a result of the Stitcher closure and instead, employees would be transferred elsewhere within the company.
