Team Coco, the podcast studio created by late night TV talk show host Conan O’Brien, is looking to become a bigger force in the business as its namesake no longer has the time constraints of hosting a television show. Team Coco has 10 podcasts in production today including Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.
Team Coco CEO Jeff Ross told the Wall Street Journal that they are considering their business options going forward, including a possible sale of the company or striking a licensing deal for its content. The company currently has a deal with SiriusXM’s Midroll Media to handle its advertising sales. Whatever happens, the paper says the current Team Coco team wants to remain in place. “We’re not looking to cash out or quit or retire,” said Ross, who has been working with O’Brien since his late-night TV debut in 1993.
More certain in the near-term are new podcasts. One of the new podcasts Team Coco has planned is a series hosted by comedian Dana Carvey called The Weird Place. O’Brien’s love of history may lead Team Coco to put him at the helm of a second podcast. It is one of six more podcasts Team Coco is looking to debut in the next eight months.
“It’s giving me a connection that I wasn’t getting before,” he told the Journal. O’Brien has been producing his original show for the past three years and has made no secret of his love of podcasting. When O’Brien won the award for Best Overall Host-Male during the iHeartPodcast Awards in January, he said, “I have been on television for three decades, and this podcast is one of the most creative and fun adventures I have ever had.”
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend has produced nearly 150 episodes to date, featuring O’Brien interviewing guests without the time constraints put on a TV show. Team Coco has had more than 250 million downloads to date with Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend averaging more than nine million downloads per month. The Journal says the show is responsible for more than half of Team Coco’s advertising revenue – which the paper says is expected to be roughly $20 million this year.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend has also announced it will record its first-ever live shows at several events this fall. It will start with a live recording in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. It will feature O’Brien and co-hosts Matt Gourley and Sona Movsesian and yet to be named special guests.
Team Coco is also prepping to move into a new office space in Hollywood. O’Brien’s show is currently recorded in an Earwolf studio.
“We live in this time where me with two microphones in a pillow fort is legitimate,” he told the Journal. “It’s a business, and it’s a good business, but at this stage of my career, at this stage of my life, it’s also a crazy gift.”