Media Insider: Bloomberg Strikes Podcast Deal, Coinbase Launches Media Arm, Forbes Staffers to Unionize

Welcome to Media Insider, PR Newswire’s roundup of media news stories from the week. 

DEADLINE | PETER WHITE
Bloomberg Strikes Exclusive Podcast Deal With iHeart Media 

Bloomberg Media is ramping up its podcast business. The company has struck an exclusive deal to co-produce and distribute audio series with iHeartMedia. The agreement will see the two companies team up on a dozen new original podcasts over the next three years. It will also include the distribution of Bloomberg Media’s existing slate of over 20 podcasts through the iHeartPodcast Network. The first four new shows take a broad view on business topics covering subject areas like financial crime, the cost of climate, and the future of an industry. They will begin to roll out later this year. 

Netflix is also looking to expand its podcasting footprint and is taking pitches from outside producers.  

AXIOS | SARA FISCHER
Coinbase Is Launching a Media Arm 

Crypto giant Coinbase is launching its own media operation and looking to poach a top media editor to guide the effort, sources tell Axios. Unlike a typical newsroom, that person would report into Coinbase’s marketing team. Sources say the media operation would act as a top-of-the-funnel marketing vehicle to draw more people to its cryptocurrency exchange. It also could be used to help the company drive its own narratives. The idea, still in its early stages, is to hire an in-house team of roughly 30 to run a cross-platform media operation. 

A slew of new crypto media companies have gained enormous traction over the past year.  

INSIDE RADIO 
TheSkimm Exploring Sale or Strategic Partnership 

TheSkimm, the digital media company targeted at millennial women, has reportedly hired advisors from JPMorgan Chase to explore a potential sale of the company. The company is looking at not just a potential strategic alliance with another media company but also deals that would involve selling to a non-media company such as a luxury brand or financial services company that wants to connect with young women. Among the companies it has reportedly had talks with is Discovery, which struck a $43 billion deal to buy WarnerMedia on Monday. Insiders said TheSkimm had about $20 million in revenue in 2019 and expects to double that revenue figure in 2021. 

Also from Inside Radio: Public broadcaster WBGO launches a podcast studio. 

CNN | KERRY FLYNN
Forbes Staffers Announce Intention to Unionize 

Earlier this week, staffers at Forbes announced plans to form a union. In a mission statement shared with CNN Business, Forbes staffers said they are unionizing for better workplace policies and protections, including job security, pay equity, and clear editorial independence, along with more efforts to improve newsroom diversity. The union would encompass about 105 employees who work in Forbes’ editorial departments, including reporters, editors, designers, photographers, videographers, and social media editors. More than 80% of those staffers have signed union cards with the NewsGuild of New York, which also represents the unions of The New York Times, Time magazine, NBC News Digital, and others.    

Meanwhile, the NewsGuild of New York is running into opposition from members regarding funding. 

THE VERGE | KIM LYONS
Parler Returns to Apple App Store With Some Content Excluded 

The iOS app for conservative-leaning social media platform Parler is back in the Apple App Store. “The entire Parler team has worked hard to address Apple’s concerns without compromising our core mission,” Parler interim CEO Mark Meckler said in a statement. “Anything allowed on the Parler network but not in the iOS app will remain accessible through our web-based and Android versions.” Parler, which bills itself as a free speech alternative to Facebook or Twitter, was banned by Apple and Google and suspended by Amazon following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The companies said Parler had not adequately handled violent threats and hateful content on its platform that encouraged the riot.

ICYMI: Metro Corp. Publishing names Kirk Davis as CEO. 

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Maria Perez is director of web operations at Cision. In her spare time, she enjoys kickboxing, baking, and cuddling with her dog Toody.