SiriusXM buys Conan O’Brien’s podcast business
May 24, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Comedian and late-night TV host Conan O’Brien is selling his podcast business to pay-radio operator SiriusXM in a deal worth reportedly about $150 million (€140m).
SiriusXM is buying O’Brien’s hit podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, along with his Team Coco digital-media company and its network of ten podcasts. O’Brien owns the bulk of the business along with his CEO Jeff Ross.
O’Brien’s podcast business has some 50 staffers. The deal locks O’Brien in for at least 5 years with SiriusXM.
The group of social-media channels under the Team Coco banner and which serve comedy video clips to its fans brought in about $10 million in ad revenue in 2021.
O’Brien hosted the Late Night with Conan O’Brien show from 1993-2009 and then The Tonight Show on NBC (2009-2010) before moving to cable channel TBS (then part of Ted Turner’s cluster of channels) from to 2021 to 2010. He was also a significant writer on Saturday Night Live (1988-1991) and The Simpsons (1991-1993).