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Red Seat Ventures operates within Fox's Tubi Media Group

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Podcasts gain popularity in decentralized media landscape

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Former Fox talent will not be employed by Fox

By Dawn Chmielewski

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Fox Corp ( FOXA ) said on Monday it

has purchased Red Seat Ventures, the digital media company whose

clients include former Fox News stars Megyn Kelly and Tucker

Carlson, in a bid to tap younger audiences and the growing

podcast market.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal represents an investment in a new area of media,

the so-called creator economy, in which individual personalities

such as Carlson, Kelly, Shawn Ryan and Candace Owens reach

millions of subscribers via podcasts and streaming shows.

While Fox News remains the highest-rated cable news network,

the 2024 election cycle revealed that some audiences preferred

to get their information from podcasts. President Donald Trump's

appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" in October was credited

with helping him reach an audience of mostly young male voters.

Valerie Wirtschafter, a senior data analyst in the

Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative at

the Brookings Institution, said podcasts, particularly

conservative podcasts, have risen in popularity in a

decentralized media landscape.

"Podcast hosts are extremely trusted. They're sort of like

friends," she said. "They're more intimate. They're inside your

head."

Red Seat Ventures - named for the red seat in Boston's

Fenway Park that marked the park's longest home run - provides a

range of services for talent, from billing and payroll to

production support. Its client list includes former New York

Times journalist Bari Weiss, former HLN host Nancy Grace,

true-crime podcaster Chris Hansen, television personality Dr.

Phil and former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.

The deal brings O'Reilly, Kelly and Carlson back in the

Murdoch fold, though Red Seat Ventures will operate

independently within Fox's Tubi Media Group, which operates a

free video streaming service. The former Fox talent will not be

employed by Fox.

"We see tremendous opportunities to drive additional scale

in genres such as sports, news and entertainment," Tubi Media

Group CEO Paul Cheesbrough said in a statement.

This is not the first such deal for Fox. In 2021, it

acquired Outkick, a right-leaning sports and political

commentary website and podcast founded by Clay Travis.