James Cridland, Editor of Podnews, a podcasting industry news website, published an intriguing post this week, titled “Missing: the shows from these big Spotify announcements.” In it, he lists a number of celebrity and high-profile podcasts announced by Spotify in the last two years that have not come to full fruition.
For instance, Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’s podcast was announced in December 2020, and was followed by the first epiode in the same month. There haven’t been any more episodes since. He questions the whereabouts of other big-name podcasts that were announced, including those from Warner Bros and DC Entertainment, Kim Kardashian West, and others.
As Cridland points out, “it’s no surprise that these deals are normally heavily covered by the press, and each of them has a positive effect on Spotify’s stock market value. Meghan and Harry’s announcement alone contributed to a 1.9% risein value, worth $836 million.” Podnews isn’t alleging a conspiracy here: just because these podcasts are currently “missing”, it does’t mean they’re not delayed by legitmate circumstances – Covid, for instance – and could still be en route.
Spotify is pushing its podcasting offer hard at the moment, and it’s proving popular – but the platform is also dealing with a number of tricky issues around hate-content and licensing requirements. If announcing big podcast signings – see also Joe Rogan – have a positive effect on the stock price, what is the effect if it people felt that the content didn’t arrive fast enough?
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools :: Wyng
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