[ad_1]
If I had a podcast, this is where I would drop an emergency pod, because that's the level of Kristaps Porzingis.
Peter Kafka of Recode and Ben Mullin and Anne Steele of the Wall Street Journal both announced Friday night that Spotify, the Swedish streaming music company, was apparently in "advanced discussions" for the acquisition of Gimlet Media. Both articles cite familiar sources of the subject and it should be noted that the situation remains somewhat fluid.
Peter Kafka, from Recode, first told the story (hardly), and he has a potential price on the contract: "A person aware of the proposed project says that Spotify will pay more than 200 million dollars in cash for the company. "
I can add to that a confirmation: A source close to the case tells me that the specific price is 230 million dollars.
But the story of the Review contains a crucial detail that you should not miss: "Discussions are still going on and there is always a possibility that an agreement will not be reached, said the people."
If you're looking for a reference, we can probably talk about Scripps' acquisition of Midroll Media in 2015 (to be renamed Stitcher) for $ 50 million, plus an additional $ 10 million based on significant achievements. But more appropriately, we should talk about iHeartMedia's acquisition of Stuff Media for $ 55 million, which is more beneficial because it's a platform company that acquires a direct content company, like we see it in this situation between Spotify and Gimlet. .
That is, if this agreement were reached, Spotify's ingestion of Gimlet would be the largest acquisition to date in the podcast industry. From one kilometer and a half.
(Oh, and if you stay the course: Gimlet Media, a venture-backed company, has raised approximately $ 28.5 million in funding from a group of investors including WPP, Betaworks, Emerson Collective and Graham Holdings, the parent company of Panoply, the last time the company raised funds for a $ 70 million valuation in 2017, check out Crunchbase's list.)
Also noteworthy: this is Spotify's first acquisition of a content company.
Gimlet Media probably does not need an introduction here, but just in case: it's the Brooklyn-based podcast company founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg, former employee of This American Life and co-founder of Planet Money, and Matt Lieber, producer and producer of WNYC / BCG. He is (a) responsible for programs like StartUp, Reply All and Homecoming, and (b) has become the child-poster somewhat polarizing for the current wave of industrialization of the podcast.
Spotify, in case you need to remember it, is becoming more and more interested in podcasting business. At times, he has tried to establish an adequate podcast presence within his platform in recent years. It initially functioned as a modest closed distributor before moving on to the current iteration: an exclusivity-driven strategy (mostly via talented contracts with people like Amy Schumer, Joe Budden and Jemele Hill, though that ceded to Dissect) built over a more traditional "open-ish" podcast distribution system. Last month, the company announced stronger podcasting intentions, revealing by press pressure that it had been experimenting with selling ads on its own podcasts since mid-2018 and was exploring the possibility of setting up its own ad insertion technology. During this campaign, I wrote about Spotify's adventures and podcast perspectives and raised a ton of questions about how a Spotify podcast strategy works.
I will not brag here … oh, what is this brothel? Here is a point I raised: "Given Spotify's content-driven strategy, what are the chances of acquiring one or more podcast content companies in the near future? (If I were a betting man, I would probably take that bet.) "Give me my money.
I would also like to point out another point that I raised in this column and which, in my opinion, will probably become an important element in the coming days:
Spotify's two-part podcast procurement approach – directly managing unique broadcast badets and opening podcast submissions – should be recognized as a familiar method for the company. This decision seems to be an inverted echo of an initiative tested by Spotify on the music side: first, to enter into discrete contracts directly with independent artists (which would be relatively modest) "with advance payments of tens or even hundreds thousands of dollars, according to several people involved "according to the New York Times), then deploy a new feature allowing independent artists to" directly download songs and albums – without going through a single label company, distribution group or employee of Spotify – and automatically receive royalties in their bank accounts ", as described by Rolling Stone.This latter feature, which is considered an upgrade of the Spotify for Artists program focused on the intelligence of the listener , is currently in beta by invitation.
Good then. I'll think about that and give you a little more badysis in Tuesday's Hot Pod, but in the meantime, some quick thoughts:
- This will almost certainly give rise to a lively discussion about podcasting, its industry, its openness, is it the end of an era, and so on? This whole conversation is totally justified and I'm here for that.
- Remember that Gimlet and Spotify have worked closely together, applying a window arrangement around Crimetown Season 2 and Mogul.
- Here is my instinct: I can not help but think that the acquisition of Gimlet was inevitable. As a venture capital company, it was born under pressure to make a huge comeback for its investors – the growth and conclusion were embedded in its DNA, not its independence. Add to that the fact that Gimlet is specialized in seasonal programming, which often requires a lot of resources and whose number of performances is limited, and it does not seem that there are many opportunities for the company to develop a business model that does not pose a very high risk. Now that she is going to be ingested into a larger entity with her own business model (mature-ish), she can continue to do what she does well without the pressures to revolutionize the model of activity of the seasonal podcast.
- On a separate note, I wonder if Spotify was the inevitable buyer. Right now, Spotify is the only buyer that makes sense considering its priorities, its current intention with podcasts and its current adventures in podcasts, but I can not help but think to other potential places where Gimlet could have met.
- One thing I'm going to think about is how does the Gimlet staff – which is now well into the hundreds – integrate with Spotify? Who stays, who leaves? How will the shows take place in society?
- Will Gimlet's programming be exclusive to Spotify? (Probably, probably.)
- Please do not hurt Reply to all.
- I hope that they will make a StartUp season on this subject. Go then.
Source link
