Audible becomes more podcast-y with more shows, while retaining its image as curator

Audible has branched out to the open podcast realm, announcing an addition of 100,000 free shows. These podcasts appear in the Audible app and presumably can be heard by non-subscribers. This is a fairly big movement for the Amazon-owned Audible, a hardline subscription business. But it’s only 100,000 shows in a universe of 1.5-million, and a search for known shows came up empty. Continue Reading

Amazon acquires podcast.com and podcasting.com

In a blockbuster domain acquisition which indicates strategic purpose, Amazon has acquired the domains podcast.com and podcsting.com, we learned from Podnews. The domains lead to the Audible landing page for podcasts. Audible does not distribute public podcasts via RSS, but it does create originals. This is a land grab by Amazon-owned Audible, and it seems like the company is creating a unique category definition and experience of audio storytelling. Continue Reading

Bill Rosenblatt: Amazon Takes On Spotify In Podcasting

by Bill Rosenblatt
Guest columnist Bill Rosenblatt analyzes Amazon’s most significant entry to podcasting — a podcast listening service integrated with Amazon Music. Comparing Amazon to Spotify is instructive, and this piece also takes into account how Amazon’s lead in the smart speaker market plays into strategic decision around podcasting. One question for the near future, according to rosenblatt: How will audiobooks play in these global audio platforms? Continue Reading

Audible launches Plus subscription, less expensive than existing plan, for access to exclusives

In a peculiar reversal of standard audio subscription value and price points, and a demonstration of Audible’s often-overlooked power in audio publishing, the Amazon-owned company has launced Audible Plus, a subscription plan the provides access to the entire Audible Original library (audiobooks and podcasts) of 68,000 productions. It costs $7.95 per month. The legacy subscription bundles the traditional audiobook catalog with Audible’s original productions for $14.95. It is a dramatic example of Audible’s unique consumer economics and value propositions. Continue Reading

Strategy Analytics: Chinese brands grew smart speaker market share, challenging Amazon and Google’s leads

Strategy Analytics released its latest analysis on the global smart speaker market. Its Q4 results found that Amazon is still the top brand by market share, followed by Google, although both are being challenged by companies in China. Continue Reading