Spotify & Amazon circling around high-flying podcast group Audioboom

Spotify and Amazon are said to be circling around UK-based global podcast group Audioboom.

The company, ranked #4 amongst podcast publishers in the US, is also a major player in Australia.

In Triton Digital’s Australian Podcast Ranker for January, Audioboom topped the list with Casefile: True Crime (through ARN/iHeart Podcast Network Australia) reaching 652,368 monthly listeners and 1,975,681 downloads.

Overall it had seven spots in the Top 100, with Morbid: A True Crime Podcast, No Such Thing As A Fish, RedHanded, The Diary Of A CEO By Steven Bartlett, Dark History and The Tiny Meat Gang Podcast joining the list.

Spotify and Amazon could make official proposals as early as this month, with Amazon apparently enlisting bankers at JP Morgan as it sets up its move.

Audioboom is in the sweet spot as traditional and new media companies move into the podcasting space, and the World Advertising Research Centre tips podcast advertising to reach US$1.6 billion in 2022.

The platform hosts, distributes and promotes audio shows, and sells advertising across 9,000 podcast channels for in-episode promo spots and retroactively inserted automated digital advertising,

It cross-promotes shows – an appealing mix of original and celebrity content – with similar audiences, and it has a global footprint.

In 2021, during the pandemic, Audioboom’s shows were downloaded 116 million times every month by 32 million unique listeners globally.

Revenue jumped 125% to £44.4 million (AU$84.3 million), with shares jumping as much as 22% to the highest since listing in December 2005, giving it a market capitalisation of £306 million ($581.4 million).

Its apparent suitors in 2022 is a far cry from 12 months ago when Audioboom, after unsuccessfully trying a takeover of US rival Triton Digital, pulled out of its own sales process when no cashed-up suitor emerged.

CEO Stuart Last said the company is full of opportunity.

“If a big business is looking to be in the space, and they are looking to acquire a company that is already scaled and has the potential to scale further, then Audioboom is in a prime position to take advantage of that,” he said.

For Spotify and Amazon, an acquisition of Audioboom would also make strategic sense.

Amazon already has the podcasting platform Wondery, reportedly worth US$300 million.

It has just signed with TikTok influencer Holly H, its biggest non-US creator with 16 million followers and one billion video views, to launch a podcast Planet Weirdo With Holly H on Amazon Music on February 25.

Spotify attributes the 75% of its ad growth to podcasts, and has put aside US$3.5 billion on enhancing podcast and audiobook experience – especially in discovering new podcasts.

Podcast downloads in Australia reached over 56 million in January, according to Triton Digital.