E.W. Scripps’ Triton Digital acquires Melbourne-based Omny Studio
Triton Digital, a global technology and services provider to the digital audio and podcast industry, has acquired Melbourne-based Omny Studio, the creators of the world’s most advanced podcast and on-demand audio publishing platform, which Triton has been integrated with and re-selling since 2017.
One of the longtime investors in Omny was Southern Cross Austereo along with venture capital from Australia and overseas.
As a result of this acquisition, the entire Omny Studio team, including co-founders Andrew Armstrong and Long Zheng, have joined Triton Digital.
Omny Studio customers include Cumulus Media, Entercom, Mediacorp, Southern Cross Austereo, Corus Entertainment, Mashable, Arabian Radio Network, Mamamia and more.
Photo: Some of team Omny [L-R]: David, Andrew, Sharon, Long, Matt, Michael and Mitch
“Triton Digital has been driving the growth and innovation of the digital audio industry for the last 13 years, and we are excited to be joining forces to further expand our global footprint and the adoption of our unequaled technology around the world,” said Sharon Taylor, CEO of Omny Studio. “We share a passion and a mission to provide publishers with the most comprehensive technology in the market, and look forward to working as part of the Triton family to drive the global audio industry forward.”
“We’re excited by the opportunity to continue innovating for our customers and look forward to the next phase of the journey ahead with Triton Digital,” said Andrew Armstrong, co-Founder and CTO of Omny Studio. “Together with Triton, we remain committed to delivering best-in-class creation, publishing, monetisation and analytics tools that enable audio publishers to garner millions of podcast downloads every day.” added Long Zheng, head of product at Omny Studio.
Omny Studio is a Melbourne-based enterprise podcasting software-as-a-service startup. Founded in 2012 by Andrew Armstrong, Ed Hooper and Long Zheng, the company formerly developed SoundGecko text-to-speech and Omny personalised radio, before launching the Omny Studio platform in 2015. Today the platform is actively used by thousands of podcasting and broadcasting clients, powering publishers internationally.
Melbourne Storm’s Sandor Earl launches podcast
A new sports podcast Fuelled By Fire launches this week. As part of Nova’s partnership with Melbourne Storm, Nova is supporting the Fuelled by Fire podcast, which will be hosted on Acast.
The series is hosted by Melbourne Storm player Sandor Earl and will feature Earl interviewing athletes from various sports each week.
He will question when and how the fire for their sport was lit and when it became a burning obsession that ultimately drove them to success.
Photo: Earl talks about his new podcast on Nova 100 breakfast with Chrissie, Sam and Browny.
Andrew Denton meets Madonna
Next week the Interview with Andrew Denton podcast will chat to Madonna in an Australian TV exclusive, which will also air on his new Seven TV show.
The US music superstar interview comes just days after Denton interviewed British screen legend Michael Caine (see photo).
Madonna is one of the highest grossing female live performers ever. She wrote the rulebook for the modern pop star and has single-handedly redefined what it is to be famous.
Ahead of the release of her new album Madame X, Denton flew to London to catch up with the pop icon and find what’s inspiring and driving her in 2019.
The Denton meeting with Madonna will air next Tuesday June 18 at 9pm on Seven and will be heard on Andrew Denton’s Interview podcast on Thursday 20 June.
Cameron Daddo podcast – Alison’s celebrity card night
We recently wrote about the launch of the Cameron Daddo and Alison Brahe podcast and already they are up to releasing episode four: Big Moment/Big Impact.
Cameron Daddo said: “Big moments happen in our lives whether we want them to or not. A move, a death, a renovation – these types of events impact our close relationships. We’ve experienced a few and we share what has worked for us and why.”
In the new episode, Alison tells one of her favourite stories about the early days in LA. It was before they had kids, they were living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, and knew some celebrities but not a lot. One night they were playing cards in the back room of a nightclub, sitting around the table was Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts and a couple of other people she couldn’t remember. Alison discussed that she could hold her own with cards and a guy at the table was also helping her. It was not about winning, they were all putting in a dollar a hand and the kitty had grown to about $9, until Russell Crowe walked in and said deal me in and threw down wads of cash. They played the next game and Alison won all the money, she scooped it all up and grabbed Cam and ran from the club as they had their next month’s rent!
Netflix grows its podcast library
Global video streaming giant Netflix has also been in the podcast business for some time, releasing audio to take customers behind the scenes of its huge library of content.
There have been as many as seven different podcasts recently and there are even more on the way.
The Netflix audio library includes:
• You Can’t Make This Up
• We Are Netflix
• I’m Obsessed With This
• What To Watch On Netflix
• Strong Black Legends
• Tales Of Your City
• Wormwood: The Companion Podcast
• Watching With…
• Making A Murderer
Watching With… is a recent launch and so far there is only one recording. But the series is promising the feature artists behind Netflix originals supplying a full-length audio commentary track. The first release was director Jennifer Kaytin talking about her 2019 movie Someone Great.
