Spotify is buying podcast network\u00a0The Ringer for an undisclosed amount\u00a0to enhance presence in the market.<\/p>\n
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Spotify\u00a0announced Wednesday that it had entered into an agreement to purchase\u00a0The Ringer<\/a>, a podcast-focused pop culture and sports that\u00a0boasts more than 30 audio shows and over\u00a0100 million\u00a0monthly downloads.<\/p>\n According to Business Insider, the purchase fits well with Spotify’s acquisitive approach to the podcasting space: It spent more than\u00a0$400 million<\/a>\u00a0on podcast acquisitions in 2019 when it purchased content studio Parcast, podcast producer Gimlet Media, and podcast creation platform Anchor.\u00a0In 2018, The Ringer reported over $15 million in revenue from its podcasting unit \u2014 plus, it’s profitable \u2014 according to the Journal.<\/p>\n According to early reporting from Morning Brew,\u00a0Spotify\u2019s keeping most of The Ringer\u2019s 90ish employees, but it\u2019ll be the podcasters like Russillo getting prime cubicle real estate.<\/p>\n The Ringer, according to experts,\u00a0could help Spotify grow its revenue from podcasting \u2014 especially if it decided to make The Ringer content exclusive to its platform, even more so as\u00a016% of monthly active Spotify users engage with podcasts, and actual consumption hours in Q4 were up almost 200% annually. However, if Spotify does buy The Ringer, the fate of the publisher’s non-audio content \u2014 like its articles, documentaries, and even book publishing deal \u2014 is less clear.<\/p>\n According to Vox<\/a>, this is the fourth podcast company acquisition Spotify has made in the last 12 months; last year it spent about $400 million to buy Gimlet Media, Anchor FM, and Parcast. Spotify executives have argued that adding a podcast business to its core music service will help them bring in new users, and keep existing users around longer.<\/p>\n Podcasting is growing fast, but it is still a niche business compared to the rest of the ad world, as according to eMarketer estimates<\/a>, by 2023, digital will surpass two-thirds of total media spending.<\/p>\nA growing market<\/h1>\n