Spotify Buys Podcast Tech Company Whooshkaa, Which Turns Radio Shows Into Podcasts
Spotify has acquired Whooshkaa, an Australia-based podcast technology platform whose core capability lets radio broadcasters convert their existing audio content into on-demand podcasts.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Spotify said it plans to integrate Whooshkaa’s broadcast-to-podcast technology into Megaphone, the enterprise podcast and ad platform it bought last year for $235 million. Spotify expects that to let it more quickly add more third-party content into the Spotify Audience Network marketplace.
Whooshkaa launched in 2016, founded by Robert Loewenthal (pictured above), former CEO of Australia’s Macquarie Radio Network. The company describes itself as providing a full end-to-end platform for hosting, distributing, monetizing and tracking on-demand audio.
Spotify believes the growth potential for digital audio is still largely untapped, according to Dawn Ostroff, the company’s chief content and advertising business officer.
“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,” Ostroff said in a statement. “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.”
Loewenthal commented, “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. We are looking forward to being part of Spotify’s bullish vision of the future of audio.”
According to Spotify, almost 20% of Spotify advertisers are now using the Spotify Audience Network. Since the launch of the Spotify Audience Network, opted-in Megaphone podcast publishers have seen double-digit increases in fill rates and CPMs (cost per thousand impressions), according to the company.
