The program cuts unveiled Thursday appear to reflect NPR’s decision to protect core news programs that remain highly popular at the national network of public-radio affiliates, including its two daily newsmagazines, “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
But it came at the expense of its once-thriving podcast arm, which until now has been a growing source of ad revenue and the way for non-commercial NPR to attract new and younger audiences. who are listeners.
NPR said last month that it expects total ad revenue to fall about $30 million short of projections this year amid an overall tightening of ad spending. Podcasting is the area that has seen the sharpest decline in revenue.
“Invisibilia,” which debuted with the advent of the podcast boom in early 2015, focused on psychology and the social sciences. At one point, it was the most popular podcast on the Apple Podcasts Charts, although it has fallen in recent years with increasing competition.
NPR said it will end “Invisibilia” and the “Rough Translation” podcasts (which report on foreign perspectives on common issues) and “Stronger Than Chaos” (which explores hip-hop culture) when their current seasons end.
It will also end production of “Everyone and Their Mom,” a humorous weekly program that began last year from the producers of NPR’s venerable weekend quiz program “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me.”
Officially, NPR said it was “halting production” of the programs, rather than canceling them outright, a distinction that opens up the possibility that podcasts could be revived in some way.
“Unfortunately, NPR has had to take painful but necessary steps” to address its financial issues, said Isabel Lara, its spokeswoman. industry and focus on key strategic priorities, day-to-day practices and serving new audiences.”
NPR produces some of the nation’s most popular podcasts, including “Fresh Air” and the daily news program “Up First.”
Highlighting the current financial situation, NPR chief executive John Lansing told managers on Thursday that if the organization had not taken steps to reduce its overhead, it would have exhausted its resources after 2025. He said that NPR management is working with the charity’s foundation to secure additional funding if the deficit continues to widen, according to Lara.
NPR tried to address its revenue issues with about $20 million in cuts last November, mainly through a hiring freeze and travel restrictions. But it said last month that the savings were not enough.
“Unlike the financial challenges we faced during the worst of the pandemic, we are projecting increased costs and no indication of an immediate turnaround in revenue,” Lansing wrote in a memo. on staff last month. “We have to make changes to what we control, and that’s our spending.”
NPR’s annual revenue is made up of ad sponsorships (known as “underwriting” in public broadcasting), fees from its member stations, and donations. Contributions from the federally chartered Corporation for Public Broadcasting usually amount to less than 2 percent of its operating budget.
NPR reported revenue of $309.7 million and an operating surplus of $28.8 million in fiscal 2021, the most recent year numbers are available. This is a sharp increase in the pandemic imposed in fiscal 2020, when it recorded a profit of $275.4 million and a $13.6 million operating surplus.
But the new round of cost-cutting reflects a stagnant ad market, prompting other media and entertainment companies to lay off employees despite a tight labor market overall. the. News companies such as Vox Media, Gannett and The Washington Post have announced cuts in recent months, as have Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and technology giants Microsoft, Amazon and Google, among others.