Two giants of the audio streaming world, Spotify and Amazon, are every contemplating takeover bids for UK podcast agency Audioboom.
That’s in accordance with a report revealed by Sky Information on Sunday (February 13), which states that the 2 corporations have been “exploring bids” for the London-listed agency “in latest weeks,” and {that a} choice may very well be made by every on “whether or not to make formal provides as quickly as this month”.
Skys’ report provides that its supply has “cautioned {that a} formal method from the 2 digital giants may but fail to materialise”.
A proper supply from SPOT or Amazon for Audioboom, if both celebration does resolve to take action, gained’t be the primary acquisition supply obtained by the podcast agency.
In July final yr, funding agency All Lively Asset Capital (AAA) made a takeover supply, which was in the end withdrawn (in September).
Audioboom, which has a market cap of over £275 million (approx $372m), stories that its reveals are downloaded greater than 116 million occasions every month by 32 million distinctive listeners around the globe.
The agency’s Audioboom Studios division produces audio content material resembling Darkish Air with Terry Carnation, F1: Past The Grid, RELAX!, and Covert.
Led by CEO Stuart Final, Audioboom operates globally, with operations and international partnerships throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
A proper acquisition supply from Spotify would tie into the corporate’s billion greenback podcast technique, which has seen it ink a lot of unique podcast offers, and swoop for a number of podcast companies, probably the most of latest of which was Australia-based podcast know-how platform, Whooshkaa (in December).
Different podcast corporations acquired by Spotify embody the likes of Gimlet Media and Anchor, for $343 million, again in February 2019, in addition to Parcast, The Ringer, Anchor FM and Megaphone.
Amongst Spotify’s unique podcasts are the Joe Rogan Expertise, which the agency signed a $100 million deal for in Might 2020 and. (Various artists, led by Neil Younger, requested to tug their music from the service in latest weeks as a consequence of controversial content material broadcast by Joe Rogan).
On the finish of This autumn 2021, Spotify had 3.6 million podcasts on the platform (up from 3.2 million on the finish of Q3).
Spotify rival Amazon Music launched podcasts within the UK, US, Germany and Japan, throughout all tiers of service in September 2021.
The platform’s podcast providing consists of unique reveals produced solely for Amazon Music and hosted by the likes of DJ Khaled, Will Smith, Dan Patrick, Becky G, and others.
Amazon Music introduced in December 2019 that it had signed an settlement to amass Los Angeles-based podcast agency Wondery, which makes and produces well-known reveals like Soiled John, Dr. Loss of life, Enterprise Wars, and The Shrink Subsequent Door.
The announcement confirmed a rumor revealed within the Wall Road Journal that very same month, which advised Amazon was set to purchase Wondery at a valuation for the podcast agency of over $300 million.Music Enterprise Worldwide
