According to the calculations of MBW, Spotify it has spent $1.26 billion on company acquisitions, focused on strengthening the platform’s audio and podcast capabilities.
This figure does not include estimated spending on talent and content contracts with celebrities such as Joe Rogan, Barack and Michelle Obama, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and Call Her Daddywhich in total according to estimates, reached more than $300 million.
In February of this year, Spotify made two podcast-related acquisitions through podsights Y chartable. Podsights is a podcast advertising measurement service and Chartable is a podcast analytics platform.
In the SEC filing, the company notes that “these acquisitions enable the Group to expand and scale its podcast monetization and product offerings for advertisers and publishers.”
Spotify says it paid $93.1 million in cash for the two acquisitions. Also, in June, Spotify closed the acquisition of digital audiobook distribution platform Findaway for $124 million, after announcing the deal in November 2021.
At the time, Spotify and Findaway said the deal was intended to “accelerate” the music streaming company’s entry into the “fast-growing audiobook industry” dominated by the likes of Spotify. Audiblewhich was acquired by Amazon for $300 million in 2018.
Also, last month, Spotify acquired 100% of Sonantica London-based AI voice platform that claims to be able to create “compelling, nuanced, and surprisingly realistic voices from text.”
Sonantic recently created a custom AI voice model for actor Val Kilmer, which was used in the film Top Gun: Maverick. Spotify reports that it paid $96.8 million in cash for the company.
Since February 2019, Spotify has also acquired the following companies: Betty Labsin March 2021, for $68.6 million, podz for $54.2 million, mega phone for $232.6 million, TheRinger for $187.4 million, Parcast for $55 million, Gimlet Media for $195.3 million and Anchor for $154.4 million dollars.
It is important to consider that, in the midst of all this investment to improve its product, Spotify has not yet made a profit since its creation, while the music community does not stop broadcasting its criticism regarding the payments that artists receive under the streaming model, especially composers.
According to the most recent financial results of SpotifyAt the end of the second quarter, the company had 4.4 million podcasts on the platform and launched 100 new original and exclusive podcasts globally during the quarter.
Spotify says the number of monthly active users (MAUs) who engaged with podcasts grew by “substantial double digits” year over year. Spotify reached 188 million global subscribers totals in the second quarter of 2022, after adding 6 million net Premium subscribers to its user base during the quarter.
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Spotify investment in podcast and audio exceeds $1.2 billion – Music Industry