Gimlet Media
| 200px | |
| Industry | Radio |
|---|---|
| Genre | Podcasts |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | Alex Blumberg Matthew Lieber |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
|
Key people
|
Alex Blumberg (CEO) Matthew Lieber (President) |
| Products | StartUp Reply All Mystery Show Surprisingly Awesome Science Vs Sampler |
|
Number of employees
|
27 (2015) |
| Website | http://gimletmedia.com |
Gimlet Media is a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing high quality narrative podcasts, founded by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who serve as the company's CEO and president respectively. Gimlet is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.[1] To date, the company has launched five podcasts: StartUp, Reply All, Mystery Show, Surprisingly Awesome,[2] and Sampler, as well as re-launching Science Vs. Company co-founder Alex Blumberg has indicated Gimlet Media plans to add several new shows in the near future.[3]
Contents
History
Gimlet was founded in August 2014, and was originally billed as the American Podcasting Corporation (APC). Blumberg was eventually convinced to change the company's name. After working with Lexicon Branding, Blumberg and Lieber chose the name Gimlet Media for the venture.[4]
The company has raised $1.5 million in seed funding at a $10 million valuation.[2] After raising most of its initial capital from investment firms Betaworks, Lowercase Capital, and Knight Enterprise Fund, Gimlet invited the listeners of its shows to help raise the last $200,000 through crowdfunding platform Quire.[5] The company is estimated to bring in $2 million in advertising revenue in 2015.[6]
In December 2015, Gimlet closed a Series A round of funding that raised $6 million at a $30 million valuation.[7]
In July 2015, Gimlet announced it would add the option to pay for membership, a decision motivated by a desire to diversify revenue streams to include more than advertising. Members are given early access to pilots for new Gimlet shows, as well as other benefits. Gimlet is exploring other ways to diversify its revenue.[5]
People
Alex Blumberg, an award-winning radio journalist, producer for This American Life, and co-founder of Planet Money, came up with the idea of a for-profit podcast network after the success of a t-shirt fundraising campaign for Planet Money. He chose to document the foundation of Gimlet in the first season of StartUp, the company's first show.
Gimlet's co-founder, Matthew Lieber, holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, is a former radio producer at WNYC, and worked as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.
Shows
| Title | Host(s) | Genre | Debut |
|---|---|---|---|
| StartUp[8] | Alex Blumberg (Season 1−) and Lisa Chow (Season 2−) | Business documentary | April 8, 2014 |
| Reply All[9] | PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman | Internet culture | November 23, 2014 |
| Mystery Show[10] | Starlee Kine | Mystery | May 22, 2015 |
| Surprisingly Awesome[11] | Adam Davidson and Adam McKay | Documentary | November 3, 2015 |
| Sampler[12] | Brittany Luse | Podcasts | January 20, 2016 |
| Science Vs[13] | Wendy Zukerman | Science | 2016[1] |
- ^ Science Vs was originally launched and produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as part of ABC Radio's First Run digital-first podcast program, before Gimlet announced in October 2015 the podcast was moving to and relaunching on their network in 2016.
StartUp
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StartUp's first episode aired on September 5, 2014, and was hosted by Alex Blumberg. Through documentary-style storytelling, the podcast shares Blumberg's experience building Gimlet Media from an idea through to a startup business. In episode 12 Blumberg announced his new co-host, Lisa Chow.
The second season of StartUp focused on online dating company Dating Ring.[14] Dating Ring differentiates itself from other dating companies by offering access to offline matchmakers, as opposed to purely algorithm based date-generating.[15] The company was incubated at Y Combinator.[1] The second season explored the difficulties of gaining success in the competitive online dating market, as well as the sexism ingrained in Silicon Valley culture.[16]
Reply All
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On November 24, 2014, Gimlet's second show, Reply All, made its debut. The show is billed as "a show about the internet," and is hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman. Vogt and Goldman previously worked on WNYC's On The Media before creating and hosting the technology and culture podcast TLDR.[17]
Mystery Show
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Mystery Show, Gimlet's third show, was launched on May 22, 2015.[18] The show features host Starlee Kine solving mysteries that cannot be solved by using the Internet, that are brought to her by listeners and friends.[19] The mysteries tend to deal with missing objects, people, or other day-to-day questions, eschewing the season-long investigation of a serious crime, as done in Serial.[20][21][22][23]
Surprisingly Awesome
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Gimlet launched Surprisingly Awesome, featuring Adam Davidson and Adam McKay, on November 3, 2015.[24]
The premise of the show is to take something that on the face of it is uninteresting, and by exploring its story, show that it is actually of interest.
Science Vs
In October 2015, it was announced that the podcast "Science Vs" hosted by Australian science journalist Wendy Zukerman would move to Gimlet Media[25][26] after previously having a season of the show produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as part of ABC Radio's First Run digital-first podcast program.[27][28]
The program dissects fads that are framed as scientific facts.
Sampler
In January 2016, Gimlet launched the podcast Sampler, hosted by Brittany Luse, which, according to the producers, "is devoted to bringing you the best moments from the world of podcasting" by presenting excerpts from other, non-Gimlet podcasts and interviewing their makers.[29]
References
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- ↑ Documenting the Journey From Public Radio to Start-Up Owner - Eilene Zimmerman, The New York Times, December 9, 2014
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