Axios was the first to report that Quake, a subscription podcast company founded by media veterans, launched with $2.5 million in seed funding.
Quake’s investors include Wndrco, a holding company founded by media veterans like Ann Daly and Jeffery Katzenbert, as well as a few other people. The company has 4 full-time employees and 8 full-time contractors.
The good news is that all of Quake’s shows are ad free. The less-than-good news (for podcast listeners) is that Quake is choosing to be a “walled garden” that locks away all of their podcasts behind a subscription paywall.
Some of the other podcasting companies that also have a subscription system:
- Annual: $2.99/month after the 7-day free trial (auto-billed annually for $34.99 for a year)
- Monthly: $4.99/month after the 7 day free trial (auto-billed monthly).
- Some of Luminary’s podcasts are can be listened to from their website.
- Annual: $34.99/year after the 14-day free trial ends (billed annually)
- Monthly: $4.99/month after the 7-day free trial ends (auto-billed monthly)
- Some of Wondery’s podcasts can be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher
- Annual: $49.99/year sale price (billed yearly) – regular price $69.99/year
- Monthly $4.99/month sale price (billed monthly) – regular price $6.99/year
- Quake’s exclusive podcasts are only available on Quake
Podcasts on Quake Media include:
- The Laura Ingraham Show – hosted by Laura Ingraham
- Very Opinionated with Soledad O’Brian – hosted by Soledad O’Brian
- The People’s Podcast with Mike Huckabee – hosted by Mike Huckabee
- Get the News with Gretchen Carlson – hosted by Gretchen Carlson
- Real Talk with Andrew Gillum – hosted by Andrew Gillum
- What Do You Really Think? – cohosted by Mark Lamont Hill and Buck Sexton
According to Axios, Quake Media is launching a network that closely resembles digital radio. It is focusing on religion, news and sports that resemble radio programming, not things like true crime or evergreen storytelling. Quake Media hopes to have at least 50 shows by next year.