There was a time when only songs and selected events used to come in audio formats. The popularity of podcasts has been amazing in the last decade. The Podcast term was coined by two terms iPOD and broadCAST. Podcast creator as well as podcast platforms have increased exponentially. Tech giant Amazon also wants to attract more users to its music platform Amazon Music. To achieve that, Amazon has acquired Wondery, an American Podcast Network.
About the Acquisition Deal
The current deal between Amazon and Wondery is going to change nothing for the Wondery existing users. Still, users will be able to listen to podcasts through the Wondery platform. Additionally, Wondery podcasts will be available for Amazon Music users also.
Financial terms and conditions are still unknown. As per the leaked data earlier, Wondery was valued at around $300 Million. The deal is not closed yet. Amazon is focusing more on global reach through the Wondery deal.
“With Amazon Music, Wondery will be able to provide even more high-quality, innovative content and continue their mission of bringing a world of entertainment and knowledge to their audiences, wherever they listen,” Amazon informed through their blog.
Why Amazon bought Wondery
Before the acquisition deal, Wondery was the largest independent podcast publisher in the world. It has immense reach in America. Wondery hit shows like Dr Death, Dirty John, Business wars etc have helped it to become the fastest network to join the top 10 ranker by Podtrac.
For podcast analytics like top podcasts, popular podcast categories, total podcast downloads, etc, Podtrac is the worldwide trusted source. Through the annual survey by Podtrac, Wondery became the first podcast publisher that secured 1st and 2nd position simultaneously in the category of Top New Podcasts.
Amazon wants to in cash the popularity and the unique contents of Wondery. In Podcast, Spotify is the known name and the main competitor of Amazon. Spotify has acquired so many podcast platforms. Podcasting network Gimlet is one of the noted acquisitions done by Spotify. Amazon got involved very late in podcasting but with popular podcast network Wondery acquisition, it will try to catch up with its competitors.
Other than acquisition, Amazon Music also started its own podcast support service in September 2020. With Wondery acquisition, Amazon music is planning to provide more knowledgeable content with entertainment.
About Wondery
Wondery was founded in 2016 by Hernan Lopez. In November, Podtrac declared it the fourth largest podcast publisher. It has around 9 million unique users. Twenty of its podcasting shows have achieved rank 1 on Apple podcast.
Wondery came to existence with the support of 20th Century Fox. Audio shows and Audio on demand for mobile users was the main goal of Wondery. Wondery achieved a total of $15 million of investment through its A and B round of fundings.
In April 2020, Al Jazeera Media Network and Wondery came together to launch Business Wars and other programs in Arabic.
