Bill Simmons will remain as head of talk strategy at Spotify after reupping his contract there.
The podcast host and executive joined Spotify in 2020, after the company bought his website and podcast company, The Ringer. That podcast network now includes over 50 popular podcasts, including The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Rewatchables and The Ryen Russillo Podcast.
Simmons will report to the new head of podcast business, Roman Wasenmüller.
“Spotify is one of the best content companies in the world,” he said. “I’ve been in enough work situations at this point that you just kinda know when you’re in the right spot. I think all of us are motivated to do something pretty special in the talk and video space.”
The company notes that The Ringer has been adding video episodes to the majority of its podcast titles, as Spotify now views video as a larger part of its platform. The podcast network produces more than 100 hours of weekly content.
Spotify acquired The Ringer as part of a bigger push into both the sports and entertainment space, and the podcasting business, which it saw as its next revenue-generating expansion beyond music. The company had acquired podcasting companies Gimlet and Parcast in 2019, as part of that push, but has since scaled back some of those efforts. Spotify later merged Gimlet and Parcast into the Spotify Studios division, and both studios were hit with a number of show cancellations and layoffs. The company has also ceded exclusive distribution of its popular podcasts.
The Ringer also has production shingle Ringer Films and has produced the HBO documentaries André the Giant, Showbiz Kids, and Music Box.
Simmons launched The Ringer in 2016, after he left ESPN, where he started the website Grantland.
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