Spotify is set to acquire podcasting companies Gimlet Media and Anchor, a move set to shake up the landscape of the budding industry.
The popularity of podcasts is growing at a rapid rate, and Spotify is committed to capitalising on this growth.
The media streaming giant has bought Gimlet Media and Anchor in order to bolster its podcast credentials and move beyond its music streaming roots.
Spotify is prepared to spend a total of between $400 million and $500 million on acquisitions this year to grow its podcast platform.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a blog post: “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”.
Ek believes Spotify’s gamble on podcasts will lead to 20 per cent of all Spotify listening being non-music content in the future.
He wrote: “This means the potential to grow much faster with more original programming — and to differentiate Spotify by playing to what makes us unique — all with the goal of becoming the world’s number one audio platform.”
Spotify also revealed it had 207 million monthly active users in the recent quarter and 96 million paid subscribers.
That’s almost double the 50 million Apple Music subscribers revealed in Apple’s recent earnings call.
