Swedish audio streaming giant Spotify, today, announced the acquisition of podcast advertising and publishing platform Megaphone. The company has reportedly acquired Megaphone for $235 million. The acquisition appears to be just one of many investments of Spotify to expand and strengthen the podcasting side of its streaming service.
Megaphone, originally known as Panoply, is a podcast advertising and publishing platform. Some of the platform’s advertising/publishing customers include high-profile names such as The Wall Street Journal, Vox Media, Bloomberg, ESPN, Disney and MARVEL.
Spotify was already Megaphone’s partner much before the acquisition. “The acquisition of Megaphone represents the next step in Spotify’s expanding the possibilities of this intimate and screenless medium,” said Spotify in the press release.
The focus of the deal appears to be mainly on podcast advertising, which includes bringing ad publishers and podcasters closer and providing podcasters more opportunities to monetize their work.
According to Spotify, this deal will now allow more advertisers to place ads on podcasts available on both platforms. This is made possible by combining Spotify’s recently introduced Streaming Ad Insertion option with the all new acquired advertising platform, Megaphone.
“Advertisers are ready to realize the full potential of podcasts. The combination of Spotify and Megaphone will allow them to activate across Spotify’s Original & Exclusive podcasts while scaling reach through the Megaphone Targeted Marketplace.”
Another significant new change which this new deal brings is the option for Spotify publishers to opt-in to monetize their podcast. Spotify also said that it will make its Streaming Ad Insertion option available to the publishers on Megaphone once the acquisition deal is complete.
The company has already made multiple similar investments in the past to expand and improve its podcast related services. Some of the deals include the acquisition of Gimlet Media for $200 million, Anchor for $140 million, Paracast for $56 million, and several others.
The podcast scene has seen tremendous growth in the past few years and much of it can be attributed to the rise of streaming services like Spotify and Apple music. Spotify’s new deal will further strengthen it’s already well-established podcasting side of its audio streaming service, and it will help Spotify sustain its dominance in the market.