Fox bets on podcasts – and former Fox News stars like Tucker Carlson

• Fox Corp. De Rupert Murdoch does almost all his money from traditional television.
• But he thinks it can also earn money from podcasts.
• This is why he bought Red Seat Ventures, a podcasting company that works with old Fox News stars.

There are many reasons to believe that podcasts are newly important in today’s political / media environment. For example, the biggest video company in the world telling you that it is really in podcasting.

But if you want real evidence, look for people who write checks to podcast societies. This is what Rupert Murdoch has just done: his Fox Corp. has just acquired Red Seat Ventures, a company that helps podcast stars – generally on the right side of the political spectrum – to earn money.

If “Red Seat Ventures” rings a bell somewhere at the back of your head, it may be because you read Business Insider in November when I spoke to the CEO of Red Seat Ventures Chris Balfe of importance Podcasting during the 2024 elections.

And / or: Maybe you listened to him with my interview with the podcast of channels. (I have obtained more comments on this cat than any other show that I have made for a while.)

If, for any reason, you missed them, a rapid summary: Red Seat manages production and sales sales for a list of large -scale podcastors, many of whom were high -level Fox News stars but had Disordered ruptures with the cable chain – Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly.

This means that Fox will still make money to these personalities.

Except that now, instead of using them, it will make them money as a supplier. (It may be significant or not that Red Seat Ventures is not part of Fox News itself – it will rather be housed in the digital wing of Fox Corp., with Tubi, its popular and free streaming service.) Fox and Fox and Fox and Fox.) Balfe were both mother of a purchase price.

Big Picture: Fox agreement is a bet that podcasts – in audio and video form – are up. Which is something you hear a bunch of people from the Podcasts industry these days, after a hollow of a few years when the sector has moved away from talented agreements and acquisitions at high prices that have not worked.

And in the case of Fox, it is also a blanket: maybe the rise of people like Carlson – whose departure in 2023 of Fox remains a kind of mystery – because independent hosts are a threat to Fox News, D ‘as much as the public of the chain continues to age.

Or maybe podcasts are simply a pleasant and complementary company for their main television operation, which will spit billions of dollars a year of profits for a long time.

Anyway, Fox wants a song – even if it means working with people with whom he had stopped working.