Spotify takes over podcast tech firms Chartable, Podsights

Spotify has announced that it is acquiring both Chartable and Podsights at an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition of these firms, the Swedish audio streaming and media services provider has revealed that it intends to assist advertisers ascertain how podcast ads drive actions that matter to their businesses.

“We believe the opportunity for digital audio and podcast remains significant. With these acquisitions, we’re taking a big step in ‘upleveling’ digital audio measurement and insights to help the entire industry scale to new heights. These tools will make it easier for publishers to turn audience insights into action and expand their listenership while ultimately growing their businesses,” mentions Spotify on its official website.

Podsights builds the tools to take podcast advertising from guesswork to a science, Chartable is an analytics platform that enables publishers to enhance their podcast audiences through promotional attribution and audience insight tools.

Khurrum Malik, Head of Advertising Business Marketing in a Q&A round revealed, “We are seeing a lot of advertisers looking to shift more media budgets to podcasting and they are telling us that in order to grow their investment in the category, they need more measurement and more insights.”

Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek had earlier revealed that it be investing $100 million in the licensing, development and marketing of music and audio content from historically underrepresented creators. 

Both Podsights and Chartable allow podcasters and networks to include tags in their shows that are used to track who listened, if they heard an ad, and whether they took action upon hearing it. 

Spotify says it plans to use Podsights’ technology outside podcasting and will bring it to the “full scope of the Spotify platform, including audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads.” 

The Chartable acquisition appears to be more directed toward podcasters themselves rather than advertisers, particularly because of its technology like SmartLinks.