The Podcast Wars Have Begun
Marvel Vs. DC Gets A Podcast Reboot, With Spotify And SiriusXM Choosing Sides
In October 2019, SiriusXM announced a partnership with Marvel for exclusive podcasts on its platforms, SiriusXM and Pandora. And just two weeks ago, Spotify answered with its own super partnership: a slate of original, exclusive podcasts from DC and Warner Bros.
This isn’t the first — or the biggest — podcast deal for each of these companies. Spotify has been on an acquisition spree of late: exclusive content deals with Joe Rogan and Kim Kardashian; podcast distribution company Anchor; content and media companies Gimlet Media and The Ringer; and just yesterday, the announcement of a $20 million ad buy from Omnicom Media Group on podcasts distributed by Spotify.
And SiriusXM is quickly looking to catch up: Just last month, it announced the acquisition of Simplecast, a podcast publishing and analytics platform; this week, rumors are swirling about SiriusXM acquiring podcast network Stitcher in what would be the largest podcast acquisition to date, at $300 million.
We predicted late last year that podcasts will be the next $1 billion media market, and these major acquisitions appear to be a giant bat signal that podcasts are the Next Big Thing.
The podcast space is consolidating quickly and will continue to do so over the next 12 to 18 months. At Forrester, we are ramping up our coverage of this emerging market. We’ve got new research coming out this summer on how to use podcasts to build your brand or engage your customer in a new way and how to navigate the still-emerging podcast advertising landscape — so stay tuned.
If you have podcast questions, comments, or opinions — on Batman vs. Superman or something else — set up an inquiry with us.