Powerhouse Podcaster Audiochuck Plagued With Internal Turmoil

Ashley Flowers’ Audiochuck, the Indianapolis company behind the No. 2 U.S. podcast Crime Junkie, has lost about 30 of its roughly 100 employees over the past year — including a CEO, chief legal officer and chief growth officer — while internal surveys show staff satisfaction collapsing from +27 in April 2025 to –34 by the second quarter of 2026. 

The flagship show is still growing. Average weekly unique listeners are up 71% year over year, YouTube views have jumped about 400%, and episode downloads are at an all-time high, the company told Bloomberg. Crime Junkie remains second nationally behind Joe Rogan. 

That audience success sits beside a workplace described by current and former staff as exacting, overworked and unstable. One employee said they vomited from nerves before presenting ideas to Flowers. In June, Flowers canceled The Deck, Audiochuck’s second-most popular show, even though it regularly drew more than 300,000 downloads a week. 

Ashley Flowers

She told staff the decision was about her work-life balance after her young daughter said how unhappy she was that her mother worked so much. “I’m sad and happy,” Flowers said in a recorded all-hands meeting. “And I know it’s the right decision.” The cancellation cut jobs and reduced programming available for a new distribution deal. 

Audiochuck has cycled through three non-founder CEOs in three years. Matthew Starker, hired after a 2025 investment round, lasted about a year. In June 2026 the company named Evelyn Webster, then CEO of SoulCycle, as his successor. 

Flowers has said she wants a company that can outlast her; the turnover suggests that handoff has been hard. The company also faces a lawsuit from the creators of Anatomy of Murder, who allege Audiochuck shorted them millions of dollars tied to a SiriusXM advertising deal worth as much as $100 million to $200 million. 

Plaintiffs say their revenue share plunged after the deal took effect even as downloads held steady. Audiochuck has denied the claims and said it will defend itself in court. The company has since moved toward a reported $150 million pact with Fox’s Tubi. 

Flowers founded Audiochuck in 2017 after putting about $13,000 of her savings into Crime Junkie, recorded with friend Brit Prawat. Low Indiana overhead helped the business report about $45 million in profit in an earlier year. In February 2025, The Chernin Group invested $40 million at a roughly $250 million valuation — the first outside capital — to fund video, TV, live events and a larger staff. 

A company spokesperson told Bloomberg that growth outpaced systems and processes and that Audiochuck has been working to fix that. The public brand — advocacy for victims and families, a huge female audience, and a true-crime slate that once included about 20 shows — still looks like a powerhouse. Inside, the story is executive churn, canceled programming, legal risk and morale that has gone from modestly positive to deeply negative in a little over a year.