Amazon Buys Wondery as Podcasting Race Continues

nytimes.com

20 points·uptown··7 comments

With all of the developments lately, I'm expecting the podcast experience to go downhill.

I am too. I was disappointed when Joe Rogan signed an exclusive deal with Spotify.

I’m not sure if people realize this but a podcast is just an RSS feed to your audio files that you submit to a search index. Why would we want to centralize and give up control?

Especially given Rogan has had Adam Curry on a couple of times. Then again I defy anyone to turn down eye watering money. The sellout of open podcasting remains though.

I don’t think we consumers do. Businesses want concentrated reason for you to come to them. If you want podcast x you have to come to service y. Walled gardens are the strategy where exclusivity yields more customers. We saw this with video and now audio is going down this path.

I’d say change. More money in the podcast industry should also result in higher production value. More money will also push some of the independent content a bit to the sidelines.

I love what Wondery puts out particularly in the history segment. Tides of History, American History Tellers, LBJs War, Business Wars, I’m sure there are others I’m missing. Wondery was a staple in my morning commute when that existed. I wonder if new normal will put any downward pressure on podcasts.

Content purchases like podcasts with high loyalty and high NPS are smart buys. Anything to make the average consumer look favourably upon their brand and add yet another factor for lock-in. With such cheap capital it will be interesting to see how large these content purchases get.

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