Amazon Reached a Deal with Podcasting Company Wondery

Amazon continues to expand its services and products as the tech giant wants to strengthen its positions in various industries. This week Amazon made an important announcement.  According to this announcement, it is acquiring podcasting company Wondery. Thanks to this deal, the company will be able to expand its catalog of original audio content.

It is worth noting that, as part of the deal, Wondery will join Amazon Music, the e-commerce giant’s music streaming business. As a reminder, Amazon Music in September added podcasts to its platform. It is working hard to carve out a share of the increasingly competitive podcasting market, in which Spotify, Apple, and others have gained ground.

The history of the podcasting company Wondery dates back to 2016. The company produced some of the most popular podcasts in recent years. For example, true-crime series like “Dirty John”, “Dr. Death” as well as “Over My Dead Body”. Based on the information provided by the podcast producer and network, it counts more than 10 million unique listeners each month.

Amazon and its plans

The Seattle-based company is willing to invest millions of dollars to buy interesting organizations. Interestingly, speculation about the deal gained strength since earlier this month. Wall Street reported that Amazon was in talks to buy the podcasting company.

It is worth noting that, the deal comes at a time when Spotify, Apple, and others are trying to become a leader. It is not surprising that companies are working hard to achieve this goal as it is possible to generate millions of dollars thanks to this business.

Importantly, Apple, Spotify, as well as Amazon have all sought to add podcasts to their streaming services as the medium gained popularity around the world. Notably, it is the most popular way to listen to content. It also allows the companies to differentiate their services with original podcasts.

Interestingly, Spotify invested a lot of money in producing original podcasts. The latest example is a deal with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle. Moreover, it also acquired four companies to expand its library.

The Cupertino-based tech giant slowly expanded its original podcast efforts and its Podcast app is installed on iPhones by default.

It is worth noting that, Amazon has a foothold in audio content beyond Amazon Music. Notably, the company owns Audible, which hosts audiobooks as well as podcasts. The service expanded its original audio content over the past several years.