Amazon announced the acquisition of Art19, a major podcast hosting and monetisation platform.
The e-commerce company didn’t disclose the price of the deal.
In addition to hosting podcasts, Art19 operates an ad marketplace that allows for companies to target and place ads within shows. The acquisition could allow Amazon to host podcasts and sell ads against them.
Amazon first offered podcasts on Amazon Music in September 2020. Later that year, Amazon acquired Wondery, a startup behind many popular podcasts, such as The Shrink Next Door and Dirty John.
In 2019, Spotify acquired podcast production studio Gimlet and podcasting tool platform Anchor. In 2020, Spotify acquired Megaphone, an Art19 competitor.
Apple was once a clear market leader in the podcasting industry but has since lost ground to Spotify and other rivals.
Market forecasts suggest that Spotify’s podcast offerings could overtake Apple Podcasts by the end of 2021.
However, Apple in 2021 launched a premium podcast subscription service allowing listeners to directly support content creators. Spotify eventually followed suit with its own podcast subscription platform.
