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After acquiring Anchor earlier this year, Spotify is testing ways to introduce some of its podcasting features to users.
In February 2019, Spotify announced two acquisitions that signalled major changes for podcasts on the audio streaming platform.
The company paid $230m for podcast network Gimlet Media, and acquired podcast creation and distribution platform Anchor for an undisclosed sum. Now, it seems that Spotify could have lofty plans for the latter acquisition.
Earlier this week, tech blogger and app researcher Jane Wong discovered that Spotify is testing a ‘create podcast’ button, which redirects users to the recently acquired Anchor app, where they can create a podcast.
Anchor also has an international version of the promo page with Spotify pic.twitter.com/Uwwskxo6dt
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 28, 2019
Over the last number of months, Wong has come across a number of major tech scoops by reverse-engineering popular apps to preview features that are still in testing mode. According to a BBC feature, she spends up to 18 hours every weekend combing through code.
As a result of her work, Wong discovered Facebook’s new dating feature before designs were released to the public and broke the news of Instagram’s experiments with augmented reality profile pictures.
Podcasts on Spotify
When contacted for more details about this feature, Spotify told The Verge: “We are always testing new products and experiences to improve the overall Spotify experience. Some tests will eventually make way for upgrades to our product, others are only tests. We have no further news to share at this time.”
As well as owning Anchor, which is a more casual podcast recording platform, Spotify also owns a company called Soundtrap, which launched a podcast tool that requires a more serious studio setup.
As it starts to focus more on podcasts, Spotify announced plans to spend up to $500m on “multiple acquisitions” before 2019 is out. Following the acquisition of Gimlet and Anchor, the company had around $160m left in its acquisition budget, according to TechCrunch.
The company later used a chunk of this change to acquire true crime podcast studio Parcast, in a bid to expand its original podcast offerings.
