Amazon to buy Wondery and could bring hundreds of podcasts to Prime Music or Audible, report says
Amazon is reportedly paying $300 million for the 100-podcast network
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Your support makes all the difference.Amazon is in talks to acquire podcast network Wondery for a potential price of $300 million (£223 million).
Wondery is the world’s largest independent podcast producer, with more than 100 podcasts in production, and the sixth-largest podcast publisher in the US.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter, the companies are in early talks which still might fall through; should it be completed it would signify Amazon’s deeper step into the consumer audio market.
Such a move could see podcasts become a stronger part of either Amazon Music, which comes as a part of the company’s Prime subscription service, or be integrated with audiobook service Audible, which is also owned by Amazon.
In 2018, Audible ventured into the podcast space with "Audio Shows". Podcasts by any other name, the company made short-form audio content that is intended to be listened to in a series, and fans can subscribe and then receive new episodes when they come out.
A podcast service could also be a valuable addition to Amazon’s Echo speakers, of which 100 million have been sold, according to the company.
Last month, Bloomberg News reported that both Apple Sony held talks about potentially buying Wondery. At that time, it sought a valuation between $300 million and $400 million.
Amazon said in a statement that it does not “comment on speculation”; Wondery did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
The expansion of streaming services into the podcast space is not new in the technology industry. In February 2019, music streaming giant Spotify announced a deal to buy both podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor for between $300 and $340 million.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said at the time that “audio — not just music — would be the future of Spotify”, and that eventually one fifth of all media consumed on the platform would be non-music content.
The company launched video podcasts in July 2020 for both free and premium Spotify users, on iPhones, Android, and Desktop.
Spotify also integrated its audio-streaming capabilities and podcast purchases more tightly together when, in October 2020, it announced that Anchor creators in the US, UK, and other commonwealth countries could use to entire music tracks during a show – rather than a brief sample.
This made Spotify the only podcast platform where hosts can include entire songs without having to be concerned about copyright claims; it’s unclear if a similar deal could be struck regarding Amazon’s licenses with Amazon Music.
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