Spotify acquires two more companies to become podcasting giant

Audio streaming platform Spotify has announced the acquisition of two podcasting companies, each of which sheds light on Spotify’s long-term plan to dominate the podcasting business.

Podsights is an ad measurement tool that allows advertisers to see how many people have seen their ads, as well as how effective ads are in driving purchases. Chartable is somewhat similar, but it’s designed for podcast creators, not advertisers. This helps podcasters track audience growth and see what factors are driving that growth.

However, Spotify says the acquisitions aren’t just about podcasting; The Podsights technology will also be used for other types of audio content on Spotify, such as music.

The two companies follow several others that Spotify has taken over in recent months, including Whooshkaa and Megaphone. Overall, these acquisitions paint a picture of the company’s future strategy. Moving forward, Spotify is looking to not only monetize listeners, but expand the ways in which it receives fees and cuts from both advertisers and content creators.

In other words, Spotify is more or less aiming to be the music and podcast Facebook. It will provide content creators with the tools to distribute and monetize their content, as well as help advertisers place ads in podcasts and between songs and provide them with data on how users perceive those ads.

Sure, Spotify already does these things, but its offerings seem poised to go even further. And it makes sense – the company’s original core business of streaming music licensed to various labels has always been a risky one, given the labels take huge amounts of money to allow Spotify to continue streaming its content.

With these new developments in podcasting, advertising and marketing, Spotify can diversify its revenues and become less dependent on established players in the music business.

The company recently came under fire for its $200 million exclusive deal with podcaster Joe Rogan, which sparked several controversies about both racism and misinformation about vaccines.

But these acquisitions show that while Spotify is investing heavily in these types of content, the deals are ultimately just part of the company’s drive to dominate audio streaming.

Transaction prices for these acquisitions were not disclosed.