Rococo Punch, the independent podcast production studio behind it The Turn series and Welcome to Provincetownwas acquired by full-service podcast and audiobook company Audily.
Led by co-founders and public radio veterans Jessica Alpert and John Perotti, Rococo Punch will continue as a standalone brand within Audily. The studio will continue to develop original productions and contract with other media companies for work-for-hire projects. RPLabs, which has created educational audio programming for partners such as Boston University and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, will also continue within the Rococo Punch brand.
Alpert and Perotti will continue to lead Rococo Punch and report to Matt Wells, Audily’s co-founder and president, as part of the acquisition. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Jessica and John are podcasting’s dream content team, and we’re thrilled to welcome them and the Rococo Punch team to the Audily family,” Wells said in a statement. “Together we will expand our service offerings and creative content to a wider audience, and we can’t imagine better partners to tackle this growing industry.”
The acquisition comes as podcast studios try to build momentum during a slower market and major audio companies like Spotify are getting wiser with content spending. For smaller podcast studios that specialize in premium narrative projects, which tend to be more expensive than always-on shows and have a harder time getting advertising dollars due to the limited number of episodes in a series, an acquisition like the Rococo Punch–Audily deal can do it. help support the company in the long run.
Alpert, formerly a managing producer at WBUR in Boston, said Rococo Punch is “working toward this moment” and that Audily will give the studio the “fuel” to “create even more value in the space.” “We are two companies with incredibly talented teams and together we can build an even stronger foundation that enables creative innovation,” said Alpert.
Perotti, who serves as Rococo Punch’s Chief Content Officer, pointed to the “constantly changing” audio market as one of the main reasons for the studio to join Audily, which launched in 2022 under VC firm nth Venture and , like other nth Venture studios companies, is owned by its employees. “When two independents come together, we can do much greater things,” Perotti said. “Rococo Punch’s thoughtful stories will continue to be the focus of our work.”
