History
Cutler, a 27-year old graduate of the University of Arizona, launched Parcast in 2016. He was inspired by the hit podcast Serial , itself a spinoff of This American Life . He believed that his network could produce podcasts of comparable quality while saving money on the production of individual episodes. [7]
Parcast's original focus was on producing scripted true crime series, but their scope expanded into the mystery, science fiction, and history genres as well as fictional audiodramas. [8] [9]
Parcast produced over 40 daily and weekly shows, supported by a team of more than 75 voice actors, producers, and scriptwriters. [8] Following a decline in demand for the shows and the anticipated merger of Gimlet Media and Parcast into a single Spotify Studios subsidiary, the firm is expected to be disbanded sometime in 2023. [10] [11]
Fremantle Limited is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in 1994. Pearson Television was renamed FremantleMedia on 20 August 2001, following the 2000 merger of Pearson Television and Bertelsmann's CLT-UFA to form the RTL Group.
Legendary Entertainment is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull along with Scott Mednick and William Fay in 2000. The company has collaborated with many major studios, including Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures, as well as streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. Since 2016, Legendary has been a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group and Apollo.
Dawn Ostroff is an American businesswoman. She was the chief content officer and advertising business officer of Spotify, and is the former president of entertainment of The CW and former president of Condé Nast Entertainment.
Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. is an American holding company for talent and media agencies with its primary offices in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The company was founded in April 2009 after the merger of the William Morris Agency and Endeavor Talent Agency. Endeavor represents artists in film, television, music, theater, digital media, and publishing. It also represents the NFL and NHL. Endeavor owns Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and is majority owner of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) through TKO Group.
All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London, England. The All3Media group comprises more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from across the United Kingdom and all other parts of Europe, New Zealand and the United States.
Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 551 million monthly active users, including 220 million paying subscribers, as of June 2023. Spotify is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.
Banijay S.A. is a French multinational television production and distribution company which is the world's largest international content producer and distributor with over 120 production companies across 22 territories, and a multi-genre catalogue containing over 120,000 hours of original programming. Headquartered in Paris, the company was founded in January 2008 by Stéphane Courbit, former president of Endemol France, and has risen since its inception, to become a €3bn turnover business. It is currently a subsidiary of FL Entertainment N.V., based in Amsterdam.
Alex Blumberg is an American entrepreneur, radio journalist, former producer for public radio and television, best known for his work with This American Life, Planet Money, and How to Save a Planet. He was the co-founder and CEO of the podcast network Gimlet Media.
Gimlet Media LLC is a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing narrative podcasts and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who served as the company's CEO and president respectively until Lieber stepped down in 2022. In February 2019, Spotify announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet for $230 million. In 2023, Spotify announced that they were to merge Gimlet and Parcast into Spotify Studios.
Chernin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded and owned by former News Corporation president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin, also CEO and chairman of the company. Jenno Topping is the current Head of Film and Television, with David Ready serving as EVP of Film and Television. Kristen Campo is the EVP of television. Twenty-four films have been produced by them, most of them with 20th Century Fox.
Nazanin Rafsanjani is the former head of new show development for Gimlet Media. Previously she was creative director at Gimlet Media and before that, a senior producer for The Rachel Maddow Show.
Pineapple Street Studios is a podcast studio based in Brooklyn, New York. In August 2019, it was acquired by Entercom. Pineapple's work includes multi-episode narratives, investigative journalism, branded podcasts, and talk shows. They've created series for companies like Nike, Hulu, Netflix, HBO, and The New York Times. In 2020, they led all podcast companies with two Peabody Award nominations, for The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow and Running From Cops. Twelve of their shows have reached #1 on Apple Podcasts.
Paramount Global is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was formed on December 4, 2019, as ViacomCBS Inc. through the merger of the second incarnations of CBS Corporation and Viacom. The company changed its name to Paramount Global on February 16, 2022, the day after its Q4 earnings presentation.
Max Cutler is an American entrepreneur, creator, investor, producer and businessman best known for cofounding the podcast Studio Parcast in 2016 with his father, the wealthy radio personality Ron Cutler.
The Two Princes is a scripted fantasy action adventure podcast from Gimlet Media. It was created and written by Kevin Christopher Snipes and directed by Mimi O'Donnell. The story focuses on two princes from warring kingdoms who become unwitting allies when they journey into a mysterious forest in order to try and save their realms. Along the way, the two heroes fall in love with each other.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It was formed from WarnerMedia's spin-off by AT&T and merger with Discovery, Inc. on April 8, 2022.
Case 63 is a science fiction podcast produced by Gimlet Media and FortySix with Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac starring as the protagonists. It is a remake of a Chilean podcast, Caso 63. The show was released on October 25, 2022. The second season was announced on the 16th September 2023, and a short audio trailer was released three days later, on the 19th.
