Since 2018 we've tracked over 30 M&A deals on our industry Audio M&A Watch List, like Amazon / Wondery and SiriusXM / Stitcher. There's also been numerous talent and IP licensing deals like Amazon / Smartless and Spotify / Call Her Daddy, as well as upstart fundraisings for companies like MeetCute, BlueWire, and Headgum.

Why?

Because we're in the Audio Wars, where music streamers are aggressively spending to capture growing listener consumption, and podcasts are proving to be one of the most powerful assets for user acquisition and retention...just like the video streamer wars! In just 13 minutes Chris and Andrew break down the trends around spoken word audio, and preview new buyer groups that will further drive market activity.

Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up link

Learn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater website

Email us: rounduppod@wearerockwater.com

--

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Chris Erwin:

Andrew, I was looking at our Microcasts to date, and I realized that ... we're about eight or nine episodes in. We actually haven't done something on the audio wars yet, which we've covered pretty extensively on our blog.

Andrew Cohen:

Yeah. I think we've been very future-focused looking at smart speakers, looking at social audio that we've kind of overlooked the present, and just the billions of dollars that are currently flowing into the space from the big streamers in the audio wars.

Chris Erwin:

Yeah. I think this is a good time to step back for our audience and give a little bit of context here. So, what's happening in podcasting the audio wars? Well, on our blog, we have an audio M&A watch list, and we tracked over 30 M&A deals since 2018. A few highlights from that. Amazon has recently emerged as a big new buyer. They bought Wondery for $300 million back in December of 2020. And then just this past June, they bought Art19, a podcast hosting platform.

Chris Erwin:

Then everyone knows about Spotify, right? They've done nine total audio acquisitions to date starting with Gimlet in 2019. And then a few recent highlights includes Pods and then also Locker Room, a $50 million investment in social audio, which we've covered extensively. And then two other quick ones ... we've seen also traditional media get in the mix. The New York Times in 2020 bought Serial Productions. And then I think just this morning I was reading some newsletters ... saw that Automattic, the company behind WordPress, just bought Pocket Casts. But I think, Andrew, we've seen a lot of M&A, but we're also seeing capital flowing in some IP and talent ...

The Audio Wars: No End In Sight

Powered by Wave AI