Spotify buys Australian podcast technology platform Whooshkaa

Spotify has acquired Whooshkaa, an Australia-based podcast technology platform that gives independent creators, publishers, broadcasters and brands a cost effective, end-to-end platform to host, distribute, monetise and track on-demand audio.

Whooshkaa’s specialised broadcast-to-podcast technology enables radio broadcasters to more easily and quickly turn their existing audio content into a podcast.

“We believe the worldwide growth potential for digital audio is still largely untapped. Through the addition of these new tools as well as the innovative team behind them, we are reinforcing our commitment to helping creators, publishers and advertisers realise the value of this opportunity,” said Dawn Ostroff, chief content & advertising business officer, Spotify.

“With Whooshkaa, we will strengthen our efforts to help audio publishers of all kinds grow their podcast business and scale our ability to help advertisers reach their audiences.”

This technology will soon be integrated into Spotify’s enterprise podcast and advertising platform Megaphone, empowering radio publishers to realise the full potential of podcasts with Megaphone’s suite of hosting, distribution, reporting and monetisation tools.

At the same time, this porting capability should ultimately bring more global third-party content into the Spotify Audience Network, improving the scale, reach, and impact, for Spotify’s advertising partners.

In November 2020, Spotify acquired Megaphone, which provided podcast publishers innovative tools to help them earn more from their content.

Throughout 2021, Spotify introduced new features for Streaming Ad Insertion, unlocked podcast ad buying in Spotify Ad Studio, and introduced the Spotify Audience Network.

The announcement follows a year of growth for Spotify’s advertising business:

• Q3 2021 was Spotify’s highest ad revenue in a quarter ever, growing 75% Y/Y
• Spotify recently passed €1 billion in advertising revenue in 2021
• Nearly 1 in 5 Spotify advertisers are now using the Spotify Audience Network
• Since the launch of the Spotify Audience Network, opted-in Megaphone podcast publishers have seen a double digit increase in fill rates, a meaningful increase in unique advertisers, and a double digit lift in CPMs

“We are proud to support both podcast-first and broadcast businesses, offering publishers a best-in-breed audio platform across their podcast and radio content,” Whooshkaa founder & CEO Robert Loewenthal.

 “We are looking forward to being part of Spotify’s bullish vision of the future of audio.”