POD PEOPLE:

Both Spotify and Simmons are insistent that nothing will change on the editorial side of the equation. Simmons tweeted that the site will remain the same "in every respect," while there are signs that Spotify intends to increase The Ringer's already sizable staff (the site, as of acquisition, has about 90 employees). Still, the deal highlights a fraught moment in online media, in which websites are increasingly moving further away from text.

Despite its significant editorial presence, The Ringer is, in many ways, an inversion of a traditional media company: It is a podcast company first and an editorial one second. The majority of its revenue comes from its 40 or so podcasts. Its website is visited by around three million visitors a month, but its podcast audience is more than ten times larger. And while the majority of its staff contributes to the website, the written work is really a sideline--a feeder system for The Ringer's diverse array of sports and pop culture podcasts.

Having a podcast empire is arguably the best way to fund an editorial company in 2020. Facebook and Google have destroyed the digital advertising market for publishers, forcing them to look for other sources of cash. Subscriptions and paywalls are always an option, of course, but reading ads from MeUndies and Caspar mattresses to millions of listeners is much easier and more lucrative, particularly for companies that aren't The New York Times. There's a reason why every major publication, legacy or digital-only, is investing heavily in podcasts, from the Times to Slate. (The New Republic launched its first podcast, The Politics of Everything, this week.)

Money isn't in text anymore. The pivot to video may have been a disastrous scam, costing thousands of media jobs. But the pivot to audio--led, it should be said, by The Ringer--has been a bonanza.

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