“If I could draw a Netflix analogy, when we launched at Netflix, first year, we spent, and then every year after that we doubled it,” he said, adding: ” greatly enhanced the value proposition for users, and over time it shifted the cost structure from variable to fixed. Speaking on an earnings call with analysts on February 6, Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy, an ex- Netflix executive, further explained Spotify’s original content strategy when it comes to podcasts. I always come back to the same question: Are our eyes really worth 10 times more than our ears? I firmly believe this is not the case.” And the music and radio industry is worth around a hundred billion dollars.

Consumers spend roughly the same amount of time on video as they do on audio.

He also stated: “To really understand, take the current value of the video industry. “This means the potential to grow much faster with more original programming - and to differentiate Spotify by playing to what makes us unique - all with the goal of becoming the world’s number one audio platform.” In a blog piece following the announcement of the Gimlet/Anchor buys, SPOT boss Daniel Ek wrote: “Based on radio industry data, we believe it is a safe assumption that, over time, more than 20% of all Spotify listening will be non-music content.

Spotify is certainly taking podcasting’s potential seriously. “Based on radio industry data, we believe it is a safe assumption that, over time, more than 20% of all Spotify listening will be non-music content.” That leaves Spotify up to $157m in its projected warchest to spend on the sector this year above and beyond its shiny new pair of purchases. Elsewhere in its recent fiscal announcements, Spotify has revealed that it plans to spend between $400m and $500m on acquisitions (likely podcast-relevant) in 2019 – including the Anchor and Gimlet buys.

Anchor spotify podcast