Luminary
IndustryRadio
GenrePodcasts
Founded2019
Founders
  • Joe Purzycki
  • Matt Sacks
Headquarters
US
Key people
  • Rishi Malhotra (CEO)
ParentLuminary Media LLC
Websiteluminarypodcasts.com

Luminary is a subscription podcast network[1] that launched on 23 April 2019.[2][3][4]

History

It was launched by Luminary Media LLC, a venture-backed company, that was co-founded in 2018 by Joe Purzycki,[5][4] and Matt Sacks.[6][7] Preceding the launch, the company had raised $100 million in venture capital,[4][8] from New Enterprise Associates and Sinai Ventures,[6] among others. Nicholas Quah, writing for Vulture.com, described Luminary's launch week as "horrific",[8] with licensing and permission issues,[8] and other controversies.[9] In late 2019, Simon Sutton replaced Matt Sacks as CEO.[10][11]

In May 2020, Bloomberg News called Luminary a "money-losing podcasting startup" with an app that "has struggled to find an audience since its debut in April 2019. Only about 80,000 people who tried the app have remained paying subscribers" per sources.[12] Bloomberg reported that the company had received "$30 million in a new round" of investment and was looking for additional funding due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] Nicholas Quah, for Nieman Lab, commented that in light of Bloomberg's report "it would seem that Luminary's fundamental problem is that it didn't end up signing anybody who had a powerful enough pull to drive that many paid listeners. Sure, it assembled a catalog of interesting stuff, but it doesn't have a world-building Howard Stern/Bill Simmons-level asset, plain and simple".[11]

Early 2022, Rishi Malhotra became CEO.[13] In March 2022, Dave Chappelle's Pilot Boy Productions invested in Luminary with an undisclosed sum; Chappelle's podcast is also hosted by Luminary.[13][14] Later that month, Jacob Kastrenakes, for The Verge, commented that "maybe Luminary's subscription-only podcast model still has legs".[7] However, after scanning "the company's website before my chat with Malhotra, and nearly all of the shows featured on the front page hadn't posted new episodes in the past six months. In fact, if you look around Luminary's website, it's hard to find any shows that have updated recently. That's a tough sell for a service with a monthly subscription fee. [...] Luminary shows will continue to start and stop publishing throughout the year, Malhotra said, being produced in seasons more like a TV show".[7]

The 2023 album Liberation 2 from Talib Kweli and Madlib was released exclusively on Luminary.

Programming

List of Luminary Original Programs
Year Title Host or Starring Genre Co-producer Notes
2019 Smartr Noa Lukas Comedy Team Coco
2019 The Ten Zach Stafford News & Politics The Advocate
2019 Frontier Tween Maria Bamford, Conan O'Brien, Kerri Kenney, and Tim Baltz Performing Arts Team Coco
2019 Players' Tribune: The Podcast Various Sports & Recreation The Players' Tribune
2019 Vocal Point Martina McBride Music Believe Entertainment Group
2019 Telephone Stories Brandon Ogborn and Omar Crook Music Ninth Planet Audio
2019 Hyper-Thetical Kerry Bishé Performing Arts FilmNation Entertainment in association with Transmitter Media
2020 Lies We Tell Alex Gibney and Ellen Horne Society & Culture Jigsaw Productions
2020 The Black List Podcast Franklin Leonard TV & Film Ninth Planet Audio & The Black List
2019 Poetics Omari Hardwick Music
2019 Stoop Talks Hana Baba and Leila Day Society & Culture
2019 Break Stuff: The Story of Woodstock '99 Steven Hyden Music The Ringer
2019 Wisdom From The Top Guy Raz Careers Built-It Productions, NPR [15]
2019 Tabloid Vanessa Grigoriadis and Lux Alptraum News & Politics New York Magazine
2019 Sonic Boom: How Seattle Lost Its Team Jordan Ritter Conn Sports & Recreation The Ringer
2019 Celeste & Her Best Celeste Barber Comedy
2019 Karamo: The Podcast Karamo Brown Education
2019 The Rewatchables 1999 Bill Simmons TV & Film The Ringer
2021 Above the Noise Russell Brand Religion & Spirituality
2020 Murder on the Towpath Soledad O'Brien History FilmNation Entertainment in association with Neon Hum Media
2015 History on Fire Daniele Bolelli History
2019 Fiasco Leon Neyfakh News & Politics
2017 Spooked Glynn Washington Performing Arts Snap Judgment
2019 The Trevor Noah Podcast Trevor Noah Comedy
2019 The Roxane Gay Agenda Roxane Gay Society & Culture
2019 The C-Word Lena Dunham & Alissa Bennett History
2017 Under The Skin Russell Brand Religion & Spirituality
2014 Guys We Fucked Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson Sexuality
2021 The Midnight Miracle Talib Kweli, Yasiin Bey, and Dave Chappelle Society & Culture
2019 People's Party Talib Kweli Music Uproxx
2020 British Villains William Green History Ninth Planet Audio & The Cut
2020 The Passion Economy Adam Davidson Finance & Economics Arrow Productions & Three Uncanny Four
2016 I Am Rapaport Michael Rapaport Sports & Recreation DBPodcasts

References

  1. ^ White, Peter (6 January 2022). "Roxane Gay Launches Talk Show Podcast With Luminary". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  2. ^ Zorn, Eric (19 April 2019). "Can Luminary entice podcast listeners to pay to listen?". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 20 March 2022. Apr 19, 2019 [...] Tuesday may mark the beginning of the end of the free ride for podcast listeners. That's launch day for Luminary, [...]
  3. ^ Stelter, Brian (23 April 2019). "Big names and big doubts as Luminary launches subscription podcast app". CNN. Retrieved 20 March 2022. April 23, 2019 [...] Tuesday is the start of a big test. It's the launch of Luminary, [...]
  4. ^ a b c Carman, Ashley (22 April 2019). "Podcast wars: $100 million startup Luminary launches Tuesday without Reply All or The Daily". The Verge. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  5. ^ Lee, Edmund; Hirsch, Lauren (14 April 2021). "Former Condé Nast Editor Plans a Vanity Fair for the Substack Era". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  6. ^ a b Spangler, Todd (29 January 2020). "Ex-HBO Boss Richard Plepler Invests in Luminary, Joins Podcast Company's Board". Variety. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Kastrenakes, Jacob (8 March 2022). "Luminary's CEO says the subscription podcast model 'is working'". The Verge. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Quah, Nicholas (26 April 2019). "How Luminary's Messy Debut Ended Up Roiling the Podcast Industry". Vulture.com. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  9. ^ Carman, Ashley (25 April 2019). "Podcast startup Luminary's launch week keeps getting worse". The Verge. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  10. ^ Lang, Brent (24 October 2019). "Former HBO President Simon Sutton Joins Luminary as CEO". Variety. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  11. ^ a b Quah, Nicholas (19 May 2020). "We've finally got some hard numbers from Luminary (and they aren't great)". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  12. ^ a b Shaw, Lucas; Anand, Priya (May 2020). "Podcaster Luminary Seeks Fresh Cash to Buoy Struggling Business". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2022. (Subscription required.)
  13. ^ a b Carman, Ashley (1 March 2022). "Dave Chappelle Invests in Podcast Startup Luminary". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  14. ^ Chan, J. Clara (1 March 2022). "Dave Chappelle Invests in Podcast Company Luminary Amid Executive Shake-Up". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  15. ^ "Luminary and NPR announce the wide release debut of 'Wisdom From The Top'". NPR (Press release). 6 October 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
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