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Why Spotify Made A Big Move Into Podcasting

· Time to read: ~2 min

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The price for Spotify to make its big splash into podcasting was $500 million. That’s how much money it took to get both Gimlet, which produces podcasts, and Anchor, which hosts them, under the Spotify umbrella. CEO Daniel Ek was on CNBC yesterday, making a rare public appearance. He explained why the company made this move

Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk on The Street Ek said with two years of podcasting under the company’s belt they discovered that podcast listeners were consuming content twice as long as music consumers. And, he said, part of the reason Spotify was purchasing Gimlet and Anchor was because the growth in podasting for the company has been phenomenal. “In just two years we’ve become the second-biggest podcast platform.

Ek also told investors they should expect to see more investments in additional original content which could, of course, mean gobbling up more podcast content providers. He says the investments will continue as long as the company is seeing positive engagement numbers. However, Spotify also plans to invest and produce more original podcasts in-house.

Ek concluded by saying this is a shift for the company and he plans to be more available for interviews and to answer questions on social media. Up until now, Ek has not been someone who gives many interviews.

Watch the CNBC interview HERE.

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