Spotify has acquired Australia-based podcast technology company Whooshkaa.
The platform gives independent creators, publishers, broadcasters, and brands an end-to-end platform to host, distribute, monetise, and track on-demand audio.
Whooshkaa also has broadcast-to-podcast technology which enables radio broadcasters to turn their existing audio content into a podcast.
Commercial details of the deal haven't been released.
Spotify will integrate this technology into its podcast and advertising platform Megaphone. Spotify expects this technology to bring more global third-party content into the Spotify Audience Network, improving the scale, reach, and impact, for our advertising partners.
“We believe the worldwide growth potential for digital audio is still largely untapped,” says Spotify chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff.
“Through the addition of these new tools as well as the innovative team behind them, we are reinforcing our commitment to helping creators, publishers and advertisers realize the value of this opportunity.
“With Whooshkaa, we will strengthen our efforts to help audio publishers of all kinds grow their podcast business and scale our ability to help advertisers reach their audiences.”
Spotify recetnly reported its highest ad revenue in a quarter for the 2021 Q3, with growth up 75% year-on-year.
The company also recently passed €1 billion in advertising revenue in this year and nearly one in five Spotify advertisers are now using the Spotify Audience Network.
“We are proud to support both podcast-first and broadcast businesses, offering publishers a best-in-breed audio platform across their podcast and radio content,” says Whooshkaa founder and CEO Robert Loewenthal.
“We are looking forward to being part of Spotify’s bullish vision of the future of audio.”
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