Spotify Acquires Podsights and Chartable

Spotify announced that they have acquired two podcast technology companies: Podsights and Chartable.

Podsights is a leading podcast advertisement measurement service that help advertisers better measure and scale their podcast advertising. Chartable is a podcast analytics platform that enables publishers to know and grow their podcast audiences through promotional attributions and insight tools.

Here’s what these acquisitions will mean for advertisers and publishers:

Upleveling Measurement for Podcast Advertising

In short, with the acquisition of Podsights, Spotify will be able to help advertisers understand how podcast ads drive actions that matter to their businesses. Over time, Spotify plans to extend these measurement capabilities beyond podcasts to the full scope of the Spotify platform, including audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads.

Helping Publishers Grow Their Businesses with Robust Insights & Promotional Tools

Over the past year, we’ve been strengthening Megaphone’s already robust offering – most recently with the acquisition of Whooshkaa and its broadcast-to-podcast technology – to ensure its the best place for podcast publishers to create, monetize, and measure their podcast business.

And now with the acquisition of Chartable, we will be further enhancing Megaphone’s suite of tools with the integration of Chartable’s audience insights and cutting-edge promotional tools, SmartLinks and SmartPromos. These tools will make it easier for publishers to turn audience insights into action and expand their listenership while ultimately growing their businesses.

The Future of Digital Audio

Spotify believes the opportunity for digital audio and podcast remains significant. With these acquisitions, Spotify says they are taking a big step in unleveling digital audio measurement and insights to help the entire industry scale to new heights.

The Verge reported: This deal is particularly critical for the company as it tries to make its ad platform the best and most powerful in audio. If it wants everyone to purchase ads through its marketplace, then it needs technology to better figure out who’s listening to those ads and what they’re doing after hearing them.

At the same time, marketing analytics are critical for show creators who want to ensure they’re spending their budgets well. This deal helps both creators and advertisers, two groups Spotify needs and wants to court.

Wilson Sonsini Advises Chartable in $2.25 Million in Funding

Wilson Sonsini represent “the technology pioneers and disruptors associated with market-changing innovation”. They have supported Chartable in its recent seed funding transaction.

On September 11, 2020, Chartable, a start-up known for its authoritative podcast download charts, announced it had raised $2.25 million in seed funding, led by Initialized Capital, which also contributed to Chartable’s $1.5 million round last year. Other investors include Naval Ravikant, Greycroft Partners, The Fund, Weekend Fund, Jim Young, and Lukas Beiwald. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati supported Chartable in the transaction.

TechCrunch reported that Chartable founders Dave Zohrob and Harish Agarwal previously worked together at AngelList, and they also created Hacker Daily, a podcast recapping the headlines from Hacker News. Dave Zohrob told TechCrunch that their experience hosting a podcast convinced them to create an analytics product. This is why Chartable was built.

Chartable offers IAB-certified podcast analytics and attribution tools to help publishers grow. It allows podcasters to track podcast charts and all their podcast reviews from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, across over 150 countries.

It helps podcasters connect their Apple Podcast analytics, hosting platform, Spotify for Podcasters, and more to track relationships between podcasters and advertising efforts. It also lets podcasters use consumption analytics from Apple Podcasts and Spotify which can be used to guide editorial decisions on future guests or topics.

Chartable Launched The Chartable Top 200

Chartable, the podcast analytics and attribution company, is pleased to announce the launch of the Chartable Top 200 podcast charts.

The Chartable Top 200 is the podcast industry’s first global, weekly industry chart, powered by Chartable’s IAB Tech Lab-certified analytics platform. The Top 200 ranks podcasts by audience size, while the Trending chart offers a view into which podcasts have made large gains in audience in the past week. The company is also launching over a dozen genre-specific charts, from Arts to True Crime, ranked on audience size.

Participating publishers at launch include NBC News, Wondery, and Vox Media, plus more than 4,000 independent creators and networks. In addition to a global chart, launch countries include the US, Brazil, India, and China, with more country-based charts launching in the near future.

“We are truly excited to offer a new set of charts to the podcast industry that go far beyond what’s currently available,” said Chartable cofounder and CEO Dave Zohrob. “Orur charts will help everyone in the podcasting world make better decisions – including indie publishers, large media companies, and both first-time and experienced advertisers. And we’re especially proud to offer unique insight into growing markets like Brazil and India.”

The Top 200 charts are live now. The new charts can be used by podcasters to see how they compare to their competition in their genre, as well as by advertisers and media-buying agencies to make buying decisions based on both current popularity and future trends via the Trending charts.

Publishers wishing to participate can opt-in for free by signing up for an account at chartable.com. Future updates will be published every Monday – sign up to receive them via email here.

Chartable Achieves IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement Certification

Chartable, the podcast measurement company, announced that it has been officially certified by the IAB Technology Laboratory.

Chartable offers analytics and attribution services to agencies, brands, and publishers. Advertisers rely on Chartable’s SmartAds dashboard to understand the value of their podcast ad spend, while thousands of publishers trust the company’s analytics to grow their audiences.

The IAB Tech Lab Compliance Program ensures adherence to the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines V2 for reporting podcast downloads and listeners. These guidelines establish a common set of metrics for podcast measurement and a base set of principles for the industry to follow.

With this certification, Chartable becomes the latest addition to the list of just over a dozen companies that have completed the compliance program.

“We couldn’t be happier to announce our IAB Tech Lab certification,” said Chartable’s cofounder and CEO, Dave Zohrob. “Chartable has always been committed to reliability and transparency in the service of growing the podcast industry, and working with the IAB Tech Lab helps us uphold and expand that commitment. We look forward to continuing to offer agencies, brands, and publishers insights they can’t get anywhere else.”