Amazon Music announced on June 25 the acquisition of Art19, a leading podcast hosting and monetization platform. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
The announcement was made very discreetly in a few sentences on the Art19 and Amazon Music sites, but it says a lot about the trajectory that Amazon wants to take, which seems quite behind its competitors in the podcast market. .
Launched in 2015, Art19 is an independent podcast company that provides tools for on-demand hosting, advertising delivery, audience targeting and footfall measurement. With Art19, Amazon will henceforth participate in the hosting of podcast broadcasts and the sale of advertising on this content. An Amazon Music spokesperson told The Verge that the changes will not be immediate.
A booming market
This is an important step for Amazon, which since the acquisition of the Californian start-up Wondery specializing in podcasting has not really distinguished itself in the field. However, the format appeals to the giants. Facebook recently unveiled a special tab for podcasters who will be able to link their shows’ RSS feeds directly to their Facebook page. Spotify for its part, recently offered Podz, a start-up specializing in the creation of podcast extracts. Finally, Apple launched paid podcasts a few days ago, offering podcasters the possibility of setting up a subscription to distribute their content to listeners.
Amazon Music didn’t start offering podcasts until September of last year. With the acquisitions of Wondery and that of Art19, Amazon now has all the keys to produce content and distribute it, to offer hosting solutions to podcasters and to profit from it by selling advertisements on their podcasts. Enough to catch up and find a place in this booming market.
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