On Thursday, Feb. 17, Spotify acquired podcasting companies Podsights and Chartable to entice more creators to join the platform.
The said companies are known for tracking pixels that will allow advertisers, marketers, and podcasters to see the ratings of their shows.
Podsights and Chartable are important to Spotify to show advertisers that their podcasts' marketing is effective and worthy of signing up for.
Spotify Acquires Two Companies for its Podcast
Spotify stated that it would bring Podsights' technology to its audio ads within music, display ads, and video ads, according to 9to5Mac.
In an exclusive interview with The Verge, Podsights CEO Sean Creely said that their team emphasizes that nothing is changing in the future and that Spotify will only enhance its technology.
As for Chartable, its fate is less clear. Its technology will be integrated into Megaphone, specifically its marketing technology like SmartLinks and SmartPromos. The company did not update its blog regarding the future of the team.
The Verge's Ashley Carman noted that Spotify's purchase of the two companies puts them in a powerful position, as they will now know which shows are performing well, even those not hosted on its own platform or consumed on its app.
However, that might present a dilemma for massive networks. They need to start thinking about whether or not it is better to build their trackers or trust Spotify to protect their data from publishing teams, as Podsights says it will.
Spotify could require podcasters to host on its platform in order to attribute ads, which is not ideal for companies like Amazon, which owns a hosting platform.
Erin Styles, Spotify's spokeswoman, told The Verge that Chartable's tools would only be available to people who have a Megaphone account, but they do not need to be paying customers.
There is also the possibility that Spotify sees opportunity and money in catering to advertisers widely, regardless of where customers come from or where the shows are hosted.
These purchases set Spotify up to better compete with YouTube, especially YouTube's analytics. Video creators publish their content on YouTube because of AdSense and its comprehensive analytics.
These analytics mean someone uploading a video gets broader data about who viewed it, including their gender and age and other information like what moments held the audience's attention.
Last year, Spotify acquired podcast platform Podz for easier podcast discovery.
More Acquisition in the Future
According to Sky News, both Spotify and Amazon are considering rival takeover approaches for Audioboom, the podcasting group, which has seen its share prices and revenue increase during the pandemic.
In the past few weeks, the two tech giants have been exploring bids for the London-listed podcasting group. They could decide whether to make formal offers this month.
Amazon is said to have been working with investment bankers at JP Morgan regarding its interest in acquiring Audioboom. An approach from either Spotify or Amazon was likely to be pitched at a significant premium to the closing share price of £17.60 or $23.97.
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Written by Sophie Webster
