[ad_1]
In January, it emerged that Pocket Casts was being offered for sale by the owners of its public radio consortium. Automattic, which is known for WordPress.com and bought Tumblr from Verizon in 2019, has announced that it is now acquiring Pocket Casts.
Update 7/17: In an email to users, the Pocket Casts team states that they “don’t expect you to notice any immediate changes in how Pocket Casts works.” They tout this “exciting transition” as making a “bigger and better” application possible.
This is a shiny new chapter for us where we can focus on what we do best, giving you the best possible podcasting experience.
More details and answers will be available “in the next few weeks”.
Original 7/16: Australia-based Pocket Casts was purchased by top podcast producers NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago and This American Life in May 2018 for “[further] public radio’s leading role as an innovator in audio discovery and distribution, while ensuring the continued support and growth of one of the most popular listening platforms in the market. However, it emerged that NPR, which owns just over a third of the service, reported that its share lost $ 812,129 in 2020.
Automattic’s announcement is light on concrete details, but app co-founders Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson remain in their roles. The Pocket Casts development team has yet to comment on the news or detailed more plans.
Going forward, “Pocket Casts will continue to provide you with the functionality you need to enjoy your favorite podcasts (or find something new).” “Deep integrations” between the podcast service and WordPress.com are being explored with the aim of “making it easier to distribute and listen to podcasts”.
As of 2019, Pocket Casts is free to download with a Pocket Casts Plus level of $ 9.99 / year available to access desktop apps (Mac, Windows, and web), Apple Watch support, and cloud storage. to upload your own audio files.
On Android and iOS, the app hasn’t seen an update since late April 2021. In recent months, the focus has been on tweaks and bug fixes rather than new features. On the Android side, a redesign of Material You would match how Pocket Casts is typically one of the first to embrace Android’s latest design language.
This Pocket Casts sale comes as Google, Apple, Spotify, and Amazon are all making big investments in the space.
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links which generate income. After.
Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more information:
[ad_2]
Source link