Spotify announced on Wednesday it has acquired two podcast technology firms to enhance podcast measurement and insights on the audio streaming platform.
(Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today’s Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.)
The Sweden-based company has been making investments to boost its podcasting business, and with these purchases, it would be able to offer more tools to podcast publishers and advertisers.
Also Read | Spotify bolsters audiobooks business with Findaway buy
Podsights, a podcast advertising measurement service, will be able to utilise Spotify’s technology and intelligence to bring more accurate measurement and actionable insights to podcast advertisers, the Swedish firm, said in a blog post.
Chartable is a podcast analytics platform that helps publishers with their podcast audiences through promotional attribution and audience insight tools like SmartLinks and SmartPromos.
Spotify said the acquisition of Chartable will also strengthen the offerings of its podcast advertisement platform Megaphone, which it purchased in late 2020 for $235 million. Last December, the company also bought an Australia-based podcast technology platform Whooshkaa, as part of its efforts to modernise digital audio advertising.
The Swedish firm intends to capture a large slice of the U.S. digital audio advertising revenue, which according to eMarketer, is expected to rise to nearly $8 billion by 2025, and of that, $2.7 billion is for podcast advertising alone.
Also Read | Spotify launches paid subscription platform for podcasts
Over time, the company plans to extend these measurement capabilities beyond podcasts to the full scope of the Spotify platform, including audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads, it said.
Last year, Spotify had unveiled new features for Streaming Ad Insertion, unlocked podcast ad buying in its self-serve ad platform, Ad Studio, and introduced the Spotify Audience Network, an audio advertising marketplace in which advertisers connect with listeners consuming a broad range of content.
The financial specifics of the two new deals were not available.