Podcast hosting and monetization platforms BlogTalkRadio and Spreaker have announced a merger.
No terms of the deal have been disclosed, nor what name the newly combined company will retain. Spreaker CEO Francesco Baschieri indicated in the press release that the deal combines their content management system and podcast creation tools with BlogTalkRadio’s monetization platform.
Spreaker’s technology is used by other companies including iHeartMedia to host their on-demand audio offerings.
Spreaker & BlogTalkRadio announced today that their respective Boards have approved a merger of the two companies that promises to create the leading technology platform for podcast creation and monetization. The combined entity is comprised of more than 50,000 podcasts, millions of listeners globally, and a proprietary suite of creation and monetization technologies that enable podcasters to manage each step of the creation, distribution and commercialization process with an easy to use, all in one solution.
Francesco Baschieri, co-founder and CEO of Spreaker, who will serve as President of the combined company, said, “We’re combining Spreaker’s best-in-class mobile and web content management system and creation tools with BlogTalkRadio’s first-to-market monetization platform. The merged company operates at massive scale delivering unique value to independent hosts, podcast networks, and larger mainstream publishers alike.”
Baschieri added, “BlogTalkRadio recently released its ‘big data’ audience data solution, Cortex. Through the combination of this technology platform with Spreaker’s sophisticated mobile apps and creation tools, we can deliver the ‘holy grail’ to the podcasting industry — targeted buys enriched by analytics and audience data that provide extremely high accuracy and transparency to advertisers, while also providing rich feedback loops for content creators to improve their content. This tightly-coupled capability, supported by Spreaker’s existing promotional deals and distribution channels with the likes of iHeartRadio, iTunes and Sonos, will make our company an instant leader in the space.”
In connection with the merger, shareholders from each of Spreaker and BlogTalkRadio will be making investments in support of the combined company’s growth plan, which will be rolled out over the next several months. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Team members from both companies will be participating on panels and exhibitions at the industry’s largest event, the Podcast Movement (#PM17), in Los Angeles, CA, from August 23-25.
