{"id":18798,"date":"2019-02-08T06:25:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T14:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.exoplatform.com\/blog\/?p=18798"},"modified":"2019-02-08T06:25:45","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T14:25:45","slug":"cartoon-of-the-week-spotify-to-build-a-podcast-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.exoplatform.com\/blog\/cartoon-of-the-week-spotify-to-build-a-podcast-empire\/","title":{"rendered":"Cartoon of the Week: Spotify to build a podcast empire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spotify<\/strong>, one of the world\u2019s largest audio platforms, is buying podcast companies Gimlet<\/strong> and Anchor<\/strong> and is spending up to $500 million on these podcast-related acquisitions.<\/p>\n

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Gimlet Media<\/strong> makes \u201cReply All\u201d and other popular shows, while Anchor<\/strong> enables anyone best podcast successes<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Gimlet<\/strong> is one of the best content creators in the world, with unique, celebrated podcast shows such as \u201cHomecoming<\/a>\u201d … and the internet culture hit \u201cReply All<\/a>,” Ek said. “And Anchor<\/strong> has completely reimagined the path to audio creation, enabling creation for the next generation of podcasters worldwide<\/strong>\u201415 billion hours of content on the platform during [the fourth quarter].”<\/p>\n

Spotify<\/strong> is known as a music app and has made a name in the industry, but CEO Daniel Ek<\/strong> has now set his sights on creating his company\u2019s own exclusive releases.<\/p>\n

That being said, Spotify<\/strong> is heavily investing in the podcast space so it can play the role of a big player:<\/p>\n

“Our podcast users spend almost twice the time on the platform, and spend even more time listening to music,” Ek said in a statement<\/a>. “We have also seen that by having unique programming, people who previously thought Spotify<\/a> was not right for them will give it a try.”<\/p>\n

Spotify<\/strong> seems to be very confident that it will get a return on this investment thanks to the results it got recently.<\/p>\n

The company reported that it had 96 million subscribers by the end of 2018, which is a 36 percent increase from the year before.<\/p>\n

It also had 207 million using its service at least once a month, including all those who listen to Spotify free with ads<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

These figures exceeded what the company had predicted, so it makes sense for the company to have ambitious plans. This decision emerged with a recent company ascertainment.<\/p>\n

Spotify<\/strong>\u2019s Chief R&D Officer, Gustav S\u00f6derstr\u00f6m,<\/strong> said in an interview with TechCrunch<\/strong>: \u201cWe saw a lot of users listening to podcasts. It was kind of unexpected and we didn\u2019t really understand why. It turned out people really wanted to have podcasts in Spotify<\/strong> with their music. If you look at radio, it\u2019s not that surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

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