Spotify Buys Podcast Analytics Firms Podsights and Chartable

Spotify, aiming to juice sales of its podcasting ad biz, has acquired two companies in the space: Podsights, a podcast advertising measurement service, and Chartable, a podcast analytics platform for publishers.

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. The addition of Podsights and Chartable will help make the audio-streaming giant a more attractive partner for advertisers and publishers to do business with, according to Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content and advertising business officer.

“We believe we’re still in the early chapters of digital audio and the opportunity for advertising in this space remains significant,” Ostroff said in a statement. “Our acquisitions of podcast technology players Podsights and Chartable are important steps in our pursuit of taking digital audio to the next level, underscoring the powerful impact it delivers for advertisers and publishers, respectively.”

The deals continue Spotify’s aggressive investments in podcasting, as it pursues the goal to become the No. 1 platform for podcasts globally. The strategy has included acquiring exclusive content, including Spotify’s reported $100 million deal for “The Joe Rogan Experience” — a hugely popular show, but one that has created headaches for Spotify given a recent backlash among some artists and users over Rogan’s use of racial slurs (which prompted the company to pull 70 episodes of “JRE”) and the show’s spread of COVID misinformation.

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As part of Spotify, Podsights will be able to use Spotify’s technology and intelligence to bring more accurate measurement and actionable insights to podcast advertisers, according to the company. Over time, Spotify plans to extend Podsights’ measurement capabilities beyond podcasts to also include audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads.

“Podsights is thrilled to join forces with Spotify to build a more robust platform for brands to measure and scale their audio advertising across our network,” said Sean Creeley, founder and CEO of Podsights.

Chartable’s audience insights capabilities and promotional tools — SmartLinks and SmartPromos — will be integrated into Megaphone, the podcast and ad platform Spotify bought in 2020 for $235 million. Dave Zohrob, Chartable’s co-founder and CEO, commented, “We are thrilled to join the band at Spotify and the Megaphone team as we continue Chartable’s mission to help publishers understand and grow their audiences. Spotify’s technology and intelligence will allow us to keep innovating, while delivering greater insights for publishers and more opportunities to help them build their audience and business.”

The deals for Podsights and Chartable come just two months after Spotify acquired Whooshkaa, an Australia-based podcast technology platform that lets radio broadcasters convert audio content into on-demand podcasts.

In 2021, Spotify’s advertising business surpassed €1 billion (about $1.1 billion) in revenue and hit a record 15% of total revenue in Q4 of 2021.

Spotify in 2020 launched Streaming Ad Insertion, letting advertisers buy dynamically served ads in audio programming, and last year rolled out the Spotify Audience Network ad marketplace. Last month, the company introduced interactive call-to-action cards for podcast ads.

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Update: 2024-01-18

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