Observed Signal · Nov 11, 2020 · Acquisition · Source: OnlineMarketing.de · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Spotify acquires Megaphone podcast platform
Spotify has announced its acquisition of Megaphone, a leading podcast advertising and hosting platform used by more than 20,000 podcasters, including The Wall Street Journal and ESPN. The deal follows Spotify’s earlier buys of Gimlet Media and Anchor and enhances its podcast targeting capabilities. Megaphone’s Targeted Marketplace will enable advertisers to scale campaigns across Spotify Originals and Exclusive podcasts. The partners also plan to introduce new monetization tools for podcasters, and Spotify’s Streaming Ad Insertion technology will be extended to Megaphone podcasters, marking its first third-party usage. Spotify highlights strong podcast economics, citing Q3 2020 results where podcast advertising revenue grew 100% and 22% of MAUs engaged with podcasts, with Megaphone catalog reaching over 1.9 million titles. The acquisition remains subject to competition/regulatory review.
Major platform acquisition expanding podcast advertising/monetization ecosystem; regulatory review pending.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Spotify announced the acquisition of Megaphone, a leading podcast advertising and hosting platform.
- Megaphone is used by over 20,000 podcasters, including Wall Street Journal and ESPN.
- Spotify previously acquired Gimlet Media and Anchor to enable explicit podcast targeting.
- Megaphone's Targeted Marketplace will allow advertisers to scale reach across Spotify Originals and Exclusive podcasts.
- Streaming Ad Insertion will be offered to Megaphone podcasters for the first time to third parties.
Connected Companies & Entities
2 Entities mappedOntology Mapping & Concepts
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