BuzzFeed News is closing down its in-house podcast production team, TheWrap has confirmed on Wednesday.
The decision will put an end to several BuzzFeed podcasts, including “The News,” “Say Something,” and “Reporting To You.” The popular “Thirst Aid Kit” podcast will continue on, and BuzzFeed News will still look to greenlight podcasts in the future while partnering with outside production teams.
“We’ve decided to move to a production model that is more like our TV projects — that is, treating shows as individual projects, with teams brought on as needed,” Shani Hilton, VP of news and programming, said in a memo to staff obtained by TheWrap. “We’ve found a lot of success with this approach to our projects on Netflix, Facebook, and Twitter, and we hope to replicate that with audio.”
Three employees will lose their jobs with the production team shuttering. With the in-house podcast team going away, BuzzFeed News will double down on creating video content geared towards social media, video-on-demand and TV and film, a person with knowledge of the decision told TheWrap.
BuzzFeed laid off 100 staffers last fall after failing to hit its revenue targets. The outlet then let go 20 more people in June, although it then hired 45 workers focused on “Creative, Strategic Planning, and Pricing.”
The Wall Street Journal was first to report the news on Wednesday.
Jon Levine contributed to this report.