Amazon snaps up Oprah Winfrey’s podcast

Oprah Winfrey’s video podcast, Book Club, and Favorite Things are headed to Amazon, according to reports from The New York Times and Variety. Starting in July, The Oprah Podcast will get new episodes twice per week, instead of once, debuting across Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Music, Audible, and Fire TV channels. The show will still appear on YouTube and other streaming platforms, but it will join Amazon’s library of celebrity-helmed shows under its Wondery brand, including New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, and Baby, this is Keke Palmer. Last year, Amazon split up Wondery, keeping its creator-led shows under the studio’s branding, while moving narrative-driven shows like Dr. Death and American Scandal to Audible. Along with Amazon, Netflix is getting into video podcasts, with new deals with Spotify and iHeartMedia, in addition to the launch of original shows with Pete Davidson and Michael Irvin. Amazon’s deal also includes all 25 seasons of The Oprah Winfrey Show, but it’s “still determining how it will present the old TV episodes,” according to Variety. The NYT reports that Amazon is considering options like “clipping together interviews she’s done on a particular subject” or “rereleasing an interview with an influential figure who’s returned to the current culture.”