Music streaming giant, Spotify has expanded into the Podcast market as it acquires Anchor and Gimlet media. Gimlet media, a podcast network and Anchor, a network that provides tools to build, publish and monetize podcasts for creators.
Daniel EK Spotify’s CEO believes that this move will point up to 20% of Spotify’s listeners to non-music content in the future. “In just shy of two years, we have become the second-biggest podcasting platform, our podcast users spend almost twice the time on the platform, and spend even more time listening to music.”
See Also: How Digital Is Helping The Growth Of Nigeria’s Music Industry
Spotify plans to acquire more podcasts in 2019 and that they are willing to spend over 500 million USD to grow. Recode reports Spotify paid between 230 million USD to acquire Gimlet Media alone. They have revealed that they got 207 million monthly active users recently, alongside 96 million paid subscribers which is nearly times two of Apple music subscribers.
Spotify have been making moves to strike deals which will bring original shows to its platform. Amy Schumer’s 3 Girls, 1 Keith already appeared on Spotify, and the service has also obtained exclusive streaming rights for the current season of Crimetown.
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