Stitcher Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 16, 2020

For more about Your California Consumer Privacy Act Rights, click here.

Stitcher Media LLC operates a variety of services related to podcasting through this website and related websites, applications, tools, and platforms (collectively, the "Stitcher Service" or the "Service"). As used in this policy, "Stitcher" refers to Stitcher Media LLC, which also does business under the Stitcher, Midroll and Earwolf brands. We may refer to Stitcher as "we", "us", or "our". We may refer to you as "listener", "you", or "your". The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to inform you about the personal information we collect, how we use and share that information, and the ways in which you can control how we use and share that information.

BY INSTALLING, USING, REGISTERING FOR OR OTHERWISE ACCESSING THE SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND CONSENT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL, USE, REGISTER TO OR OTHERWISE ACCESS THE SERVICE.

Stitcher collects information about our users in various ways, including by your voluntary submissions and participation in and access to the Services, as well as through cookie and other tracking technology. The information Stitcher collects may be used in a variety of ways, including for internal review, to improve the Service, to notify you about updates to the Service, or promotions that you may be interested in, to fulfill and provide Service as requested by you, and to deliver and review the effectiveness of advertising, including interest-based advertising.

1. Information We Receive or Collect from You

Registration Data: When you sign up for Stitcher, you provide your email address as well as a password for your account.

Payment Information: If you choose to subscribe to the Stitcher Premium Service, purchase the Stitcher Premium Service as a gift, or purchase merchandise you will also be asked to provide your payment information and certain other information expressly for authentication. We may use a third party payment service, such as Stripe. You may be providing the Payment Information directly to the third party service acting on our behalf. In that event, Stitcher does not collect or store your Payment Information.

Listening Activity: When you use the Service, we keep track of your activity, including your listening activity, which may include the number and title of shows you have listened to, the content you prefer, the episodes you skip, and when and how long you listen.

Technical Information: As an internet-enabled service, Stitcher may collect certain technical information through the use of log files and servers. Web and application servers create log files automatically as part of their setup and configuration. Information in a log file may include IP address, browser type, Internet service provider, date/time stamps, file requested, and other usage information and statistics. In addition, we collect information about the computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other electronic device you use to access the Service ("Device Information"). For example, our servers receive and store information such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, and other related software or hardware information. If you access the Service from a mobile phone, tablet, or other electronic device, we may collect and store information such as device type, operating system version and type, unique identifiers (such as mobile advertising ID), carrier, and other related information for that device.

Location Information: We will not collect your device-based location information unless you have permitted the Stitcher app to access location services on your device. You can disable this access at any time in your system settings. We may approximate your region or other general location from the IP address assigned to your device when you access the Service.

Research: If you choose to participate in surveys or other research, we will collect any information you choose to provide us.

Third Party Personal Information: Certain features of the Stitcher Service require you to provide personal information about another person. By providing another person's personal information to us, you confirm that you have all necessary rights and permissions to provide such information. If you choose to provide this information, we may store and use the information for purposes of providing those features. For example, if you choose to purchase a subscription to the Service for a friend, we may ask for your friend's name and email address to provide the gift. We will only use this information for the specific reason for which it was provided or for security purposes, such as to prevent fraud. If you believe that one of your contacts has provided us with your personal information and you would like to request that it be removed from our database, please contact us at [email protected].

Finally, we may collect personal information pursuant to a legal or contractual requirement.

2. Information We Receive or Collect from Third Parties

We may receive or collect information about you from third parties, and combine and store it on our servers with other information we may have already received or collected from you. These third parties include:

Service providers that provide or make available advertising, features and functionality, and content on or through the Stitcher Service.
Advertising entities such as advertisers and advertising agencies that collect and maintain information on their customers. These third parties may provide Stitcher with certain information about those customers for the purposes of serving advertisements and/or marketing offers to their customers on the Stitcher Service.
Marketing companies and data providers that create, maintain, and distribute professional marketing lists or segments, or maintain and distribute other marketing, or similar data.
Governmental or quasi-governmental agencies or organizations that provide or make available, to the public, census and demographic data.
Third-party social media websites, applications, or services that you use to sign up for the Stitcher Service. In some cases, those websites, applications, or services may automatically provide us with information about you to facilitate personalization unless you use the controls available on those websites, applications, or services to opt-out of such sharing.

Related Companies: We may also receive information about you from our affiliates, which include Sirius XM Radio Inc. ("Sirius XM"), Pandora Media, LLC and their subsidiaries. For more information about the Sirius XM family of companies, please see https://www.siriusxm.com/corporate .

3. Our Cookie Policy

Our Use of Cookies: Stitcher uses a technology that is commonly known as "cookies." A cookie is a file our server writes to your hard drive that contains an alphanumeric identifier. We use the identifier in a cookie to help us manage and report on your interaction with the Stitcher Service. Through cookies, we are able to collect information that we use to improve the Stitcher Service, keep count of return visits to our website or our advertisers' or other third parties’ websites, collect and report on aggregate statistical information, authenticate your login credentials, or manage multiple instances of the Service in a single browser. We may also collect other data such as the page or site that referred you to the Stitcher Service, the date and time you visited the Stitcher Service, and your current IP address. The cookies we place on your hard drive are known as "first-party cookies." We use both session cookies and persistent cookies. A session cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You may be able to remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your browser's "help" section. If you do not accept first-party cookies you may still use the Stitcher Service, but your experience with the Site and with the Stitcher Service will be limited.

Beacons and tracking pixels: Stitcher, third-party advertising entities, and tracking-utility providers employ a technology known as "beacons" or "tracking pixels" (each, a "Beacon"). A Beacon is a one-pixel-by-one-pixel clear image that is embedded in HTML content, and is about the size of a period at the end of a sentence. The Beacon transmits information to a server, such as a numeric count, unique identifier, or IP address. Stitcher and third parties that we contract with use Beacons to help us better manage content on the Stitcher Service, for example, to let us know which emails recipients have opened, or to count the number of unique visitors to a webpage. The use of a Beacon may also allow us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and of our marketing campaigns.

Advertisers' and other third parties' use of cookies: Advertisers and other third-party advertising entities that deliver ads to you on the Service may place or recognize a unique cookie on your hard drive ("third-party cookies"). Advertising entities may use third-party cookies in order to count your exposure to or gauge your interaction with an ad. They may also use third-party cookies to provide you with interest-based advertising. Most major web browsers or mobile operating systems provide users with the option to accept or reject third-party cookies. The use of third-party cookies is not covered by this Privacy Policy. We do not have access to or control over cookies placed by advertisers and other third parties.

HTML5 and Flash Local Storage: Stitcher or its advertising and technology providers may, in some instances, use HTML5 and/or Flash Local Storage (collectively, "Local Storage") to enhance your listening and advertising experiences on the Service. Each browser implements HTML5 Local Storage differently and provides tools for managing content stored within local storage. You can review your browser's privacy settings to manage the content stored within HTML5 Local Storage. Similarly, for more information on how to manage content stored with Local Storage, please review this document provided by Adobe .

4. How We Use Information We Receive or Collect

Generally: Stitcher may use the information or data we receive or collect for a variety of purposes, such as:

To facilitate the creation and management of your account on the Stitcher Service.
To provide and improve the Stitcher Service, and to develop new products and services.
To customize and personalize the advertising and other content we deliver to you both on the Service and on other services offered by our publishers.
To measure and analyze Service usage and enhance your listener experience.
To fulfill your requests for certain products and services, such as distributing electronic newsletters and enabling you to participate in and renew paid services, surveys, and public forums.
To send you information that you requested or agreed to receive.
To alert you to the latest developments and features on the Stitcher Service and to notify you of administrative information, such as security or support and maintenance advisories.
To invite you to participate in events or special promotions related to products we think you may like.
To fulfill contractual obligations with content owners and licensors.

Push Notifications: We may send you push notifications from time to time using certain information about your device such as its operating system and device ID. If you do not wish to receive these types of communications, they may be turned off at the device level in your app settings.

Email Address: We use your email address to provide you with technical support, and to send you notices about the Stitcher Service, your account or promotional offers. We may also use your email address in determining ads to serve you that are more relevant to your interests. We also work with data vendors and providers and advertising platforms to help increase the relevance of ads we provide to our listeners by providing a de-identified value derived from information we have received, such as your email address, to these entities and platforms. We may share your email address with our affiliated companies to enhance their service to you and to offer products or services that we believe to be of interest to you. We do not sell or give your email address to non-affiliated companies for their own marketing purposes without your permission.

Basis for Processing Information: Some jurisdictions require that we determine a “lawful basis” for processing personal information. Where such requirements exist, we rely on the following lawful bases for our processing activities: that you have consented to the processing; that the processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you; that we have a legal obligation; or that we have a legitimate interest in providing and improving the Services and managing our business operations.

5. How We Share Information with Others

Related Companies: We share information we collect with our parent corporation, Sirius XM and its subsidiaries and affiliates to offer, provide, and improve services and products offered both individually and jointly with other Sirius XM companies. Additionally, we may share your personal information with our successor in interest in the event of a corporate reorganization, merger, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets.

Third Parties and Service Providers: Stitcher may share personal information we receive or collect with third parties in a variety of ways, such as:

When you give Stitcher permission through an affirmative election (for example, clicking "yes" in response to a message such as "share my email with this sponsor").
If we contract with such third parties to provide specialized services on our behalf, such as credit card processors, customer support, ad servers or other providers of advertising services, platform technology providers, marketing service providers, or parties who assist us with sweepstakes management and prize fulfillment. These companies are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide these services to Stitcher. They are not authorized to use your personal information for their own, unrelated purposes.
If you elect to take advantage of a feature or service provided jointly by Stitcher and third parties, we may share certain information about you with those third parties for account authentication and management, and to enable the Service on their platforms. For example, when you share information through integrated social networking platforms, such as Facebook, you are agreeing to allow the Stitcher Service to communicate or "talk" with the other service in order to set up your account or make those social features available for your use. These third parties are not covered by this policy and may have their own data collection, use, and sharing practices that may also be applicable to your personal information. You acknowledge and agree that you are responsible for your use of third party services and that it is your responsibility to review their terms of use and privacy policies and the methods for managing privacy settings when using their services.
If you have given permission to a third party for us to share data about you with them. For example, if you participate as a panelist in a survey with an analytics company, you agree for that company to receive data from us about you.

Legal and Security Purposes: We may share your information in order to (i) protect or defend the legal rights or property of Stitcher, or the legal rights of third parties, employees, agents, and contractors (including enforcement of our agreements); (ii) protect the safety and security of Stitcher users or members of the public including acting in urgent circumstances; (iii) protect against fraud or to conduct risk management; or (iv) comply with the law, legal process, or legal and government requests.

Device Information: Stitcher may share information we gather from devices you use to access the Service with its third-party vendors or service providers, manufacturers or distributors, or advertising entities. We share this information for a variety of purposes such as the measurement of advertising campaign effectiveness including but not limited to mobile listening capping, advertising frequency capping, and tracking advertising conversion events; estimating the number of unique users; security and fraud detection; debugging problems with the Stitcher Service; and for providing you with more relevant advertisements.

Deidentified, Aggregated, or Anonymized Information: Stitcher may share with service providers, third parties, content providers and/or advertisers information we receive or collect that we have deidentified, aggregated, or anonymized and that can no longer be reasonably associated with you or your individual device. Such information may include demographic categories, general location information, information about the computer or device used to access the Service, or information about interactions with the Stitcher Service. We share such information for a variety of reasons, such as to analyze usage, improve the Stitcher Service and your listener experience, improve the serving and performance of advertisements and advertising campaigns, or for other similar purposes.

Information You Disclose in a Public Profile or in Public Forums: You should be aware that any information you provide or post in any publicly accessible location such as a page, blog, or social media platform may be read, collected, and used by others who access it. Stitcher has no responsibility for any personal information you display in a public forum.

Data Sharing: If your personal information is transferred or shared as described in this Privacy Policy, we will seek assurances from the recipients (prior to the transfer) that they will safeguard the information in a manner consistent with this policy.

6. Advertising & Measurement Settings

Opting Out of Interest-based Advertising: In our effort to provide you with advertisements that may interest you, Stitcher, its affiliates and third-party advertising entities may use data in the manner disclosed in this Privacy Policy to provide you with relevant ads. To learn about how the online advertising industry uses information it collects to provide you with relevant ads, and to control whether you want to receive those relevant ads from third-party advertisers, please review the information at: Understanding Online Advertising (About Our Ads)

We do not control the privacy practices of third-party advertising companies. You are responsible for reviewing the privacy policies of such third-party advertising companies and the methods available, if any, for changing privacy settings.

If you are using an iOS-based device and do not want to receive tailored in-application advertisements that relate to your interests, you may be able to limit these advertisements by enabling "Limit Ad Tracking" on your iOS Device following these instructions from Apple.

If you are using an Android-based device and you do not wish to receive tailored in-application advertisements, you can visit Google's Ads Settings page from a browser on your Android-based device and make your choices there.

7. Managing Your Information

We use the email address you provide to us to manage your account and for other purposes stated in this Privacy Policy. It is your responsibility to maintain the email address and keep it up to date. You have the option to opt-out of receiving promotional or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe link contained in the promotional, marketing, or other similar emails you receive.

We will send you transaction confirmation emails and other Service-related announcements when it is necessary to do so. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the option to deactivate your account.

To instructions on how to change your information on or deactivate your account, please visit the Stitcher FAQs.

8. Security and Content from Other Websites

Protection of Data: We have implemented physical, technical and administrative security measures designed to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information we collect or receive from you. However, despite our efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.

Data Integrity: We use the information we collect in ways that are relevant and compatible with the purpose for which that information was collected or provided to us as disclosed in this Privacy Policy. We will take steps to ensure that all information collected, processed, and/or stored is protected from destruction, corruption, or use in a manner inconsistent with our policies or the purpose for which we received it.

Links to Other Websites: The Stitcher Service and certain advertisements on the Service include links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from those of Stitcher. If you submit personal information to any of those websites, the privacy statements and practices of those websites govern their use of your information. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy statement of any website you visit.

Use of Framing Techniques: Some of our third-party vendors may utilize framing techniques to serve content to and from webpages accessible through the Stitcher Service while preserving the look and feel of our website. If a third party utilizes framing techniques, you are providing your personal information to this third party and not to Stitcher

9. Our Policies Concerning Children

Stitcher does not seek nor knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13 years of age. In the event we obtain actual knowledge that we have collected information from children under the age of 13, we will take measures to remove such information from our servers.

10. Your Privacy Rights

Your personal information and its collection, use, sources, and sharing are described in this Privacy Policy. Please see below for additional provisions, as required under the consumer privacy law of your jurisdiction.

California Residents: Your rights under Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.83 (Shine the Light law): California residents may request certain information about categories of personal information shared by Stitcher with unaffiliated third parties for those parties’ own marketing purposes during the previous calendar year and the names of such parties. We share personal information with affiliated companies, Pandora Media, LLC, Sirius XM Radio Inc. and their subsidiaries and affiliates, who may use that information for any of the uses that Stitcher may use it. We do not share your personal information (as defined under this section) with third parties for their direct marketing purposes unless you specifically opt-in, or are offered the opportunity to opt-out at the time you provide personal information or request a service and elect not to opt-out. To make a request under § 1798.83 to Stitcher, please write to: Stitcher, Attn: Legal Department - Privacy Request, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10104 or send an email to privacy @ stitcher.com. Requests that come to us by other means may result in a delayed response.

Your rights under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 22575(b) ("Do Not Track" Browser Settings): You are entitled to know how we respond to "Do Not Track" browser settings. Like many other websites and online services, we do not currently alter our practices when we receive Do Not Track signals as there is no consensus among industry participants as to what "Do Not Track" means in this context.

Your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA): CCPA provides for certain disclosures about your rights and the personal information we collect, sell, and disclose for business or commercial purposes. Your personal information may be sold (as each term is defined under California Civil Code § 1798) by Stitcher to another business in exchange for some form of consideration to our business. If you are a resident of California, you have the right to tell us not to sell your personal information, to the extent that we do so. To opt out of the sale of your personal information or to view more information on or exercise your rights under CCPA, visit Your California Consumer Privacy Act Rights.

Nevada Residents: If you are a resident of Nevada, you may apply limits to the sale of certain personal information to third parties for resale or licensing purposes, subject to applicable law. Stitcher does not sell your personal information for such use. You are entitled to register your preference for limits on such sales in the future by sending an email to privacy @ stitcher.com, with the subject line, "Nevada Do Not Sell Request" along with your first and last name, zip code, and whether you are a former or current Stitcher listener. If you are a former or current Stitcher listener, in order to process your request, your email address must match the email address on your account.

International Residents: If you are a resident of a country other than the U.S., depending on your location and subject to local law, you may have certain rights with respect to your personal information. These may include: the right to access, correct, and delete your personal information; the right to restrict or object to our use of your personal information; and the right to receive a portable copy of your personal information in a usable format. If you provide us with consent to use your personal information, you may withdraw that consent at any time, however, such withdrawal will not impact the lawfulness of our use of your personal information based on your consent up to that point. To make a request related to your personal information or otherwise exercise your rights, you may contact us using the contact information provided below. In order to fulfill your request, we may require additional information from you. We will respond to requests within the relevant time periods established by applicable law. We are committed to finding a fair and reasonable resolution to any request, concern, or complaint you bring to our attention. However, if you are unsatisfied with our response to your request, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with applicable governmental authorities, subject to local law.

11. Transfer of Information of International Listeners

Our business operations are located primarily in the United States. If you choose to access the Stitcher Service from outside of the U.S., the information you submit to us may be transferred to the U.S. and other countries to be processed by us or our service providers in order to provide the Service to you or for such other purposes as set forth in this policy. If you are not a resident of the U.S., you hereby consent and agree that we may collect, process, use, and store your information, as discussed in this policy, outside your resident jurisdiction, including in the U.S. Please be aware that U.S. law and the laws of other countries where we may store and process your information may offer different levels of protection for information than may be available in your country.

12. Changes to our Privacy Policy

We evaluate this Privacy Policy in light of new technologies, business practices, changes in law, and our listeners' needs, and may make changes to the policy accordingly. Please check this page periodically for updates. We will post the updated terms of the policy on the Service, and provide you notice of any material changes, which may include notice by email through a message sent to the email address you use to access the Service. Please note that at all times you are responsible for updating your information to provide us with your most current email address. In the event that the last email address that you have provided us is not valid, our dispatch of the email containing such sending notice to the email address we have on file will nonetheless be effective notice of the changes described here.

Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective upon the earlier of thirty (30) calendar days following our dispatch of an email notice to you or thirty (30) calendar days following our posting of notice of the changes on the Service. If you do not wish to permit changes in our use of your information, you must notify us prior to the effective date of the changes that you wish to deactivate your account. Continued use of the Service following notice of such changes shall indicate your acknowledgement of such changes and agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of such changes.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, or the privacy practices of Stitcher, contact us at [email protected], or write to us at Attn: Stitcher - Privacy, 8550 Freeport Parkway, Irving, Texas 75063 USA.

We may provide translations of this Privacy Policy for the convenience of our listeners. This policy was written in English, and to the extent the translated version of this policy is inconsistent with the English version, the English version will control. We reserve the right to correct translation errors or other issues caused by offering translations of this policy.