![]() Over the last few weeks, there has been a flurry of app related announcements. How about Mark Cuban’s Fireside, which launched with much fanfare at Podcast Movement last summer? Not a flamethrower. Embers?ĭeveloping a large following is hard and expensive, yet the apps keep coming. You don’t hear much about NPR One anymore, but that may be changing as NPR works to build habits beyond Apple and Spotify. It was recently purchased by Automattic, owner of the website publishing platform WordPress. The excellent Pocket Casts app was largely abandoned by its investors NPR, WNYC, Chicago Public Media, and BBC Studios. Developing a large following is hard and expensive, yet the apps keep coming. Platforms including Libsyn and Buzzsprout report less than 0.25% (rounding up) of podcast listening derived from Facebook. ![]() Facebook jumped into the audio fray in June of last year and the results are mind-blowingly unexceptional. iHeart, with all its massive promotional might, also has a modest share of podcasting listening. ![]() Today, depending on the platform providing the data, it has under 5% of listening ( Omny)( Buzzsprout). Perhaps one of the surprise disappointments has been Google Podcasts. Recently, Acast announced a shuttering of their app too. TuneIn, which over time has raised $171 million from top venture capital firms (including Google), inexplicably favored live audio, ignoring the trend to on-demand. Pandora bungled its foray into podcasting several years ago. Not just third-party app makers that have had a tough go of it, but big company apps such as Stitcher that failed to build significant market share and limp along. The graveyard is loaded with apps that never caught on. ![]() It is also not known what amount is involved in the acquisition and when the acquisition is expected to be completed.Podcast apps are a curious business. ![]() It is not known whether this current subscription form will be continued after the acquisition by Automattic has been completed. It is unknown how Automattic plans to monetize the service in the future. The previous owners of Pocket Casts introduced a new revenue model for the service in 2019 , in which the Pocket Casts mobile app became free and a Plus service was introduced for $1.20 per month or $12.10 per year. That subscription includes access to the web version and desktop apps for Windows and macOS, an Apple Watch app and 10GB of cloud storage for media. Current wrote in January that the board of the app had voted to sell the app. Pocket Casts would turn a loss For example, NPR would have lost $800,000 on the service in 2020. It had been known for some time that former Pocket Casts owners planned to sell the service. “As part of Automattic, Pocket Casts will continue to provide you with the features you need to enjoy your favorite podcasts or find something new,” Automattic writes in a blog post . “We will be looking into developing deep integrations between and Pocket Casts, making it easier to distribute and listen to podcasts.” Automattic, the parent company of and Tumblr, is acquiring podcast app Pocket Casts. The company shares few details about the acquisition, but it says it is exploring options for “deep integrations” between and Pocket Casts. ![]()
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