(Which, to be fair, is a much less quirky acquisition for a company dealing in content-management systems.) The Pocket Casts purchase isnвЂ™t AutomatticвЂ™s first foray into audio in recent memory back in January, had announced a partnership with AnchorВ that revolves around converting WordPress blogs into text-to-speech audio experiences that can be published through the Spotify-owned platform. The company is also distinct for having made a string of somewhat quirky acquisitions of late: the once mighty Tumblr, the publishing platform (and digital magazine) Atavist, the journaling app Day One, and the content-analytics company Parse.ly. Pocket Casts now has a new home in Automattic, best known as the parent company behind the ubiquitous WordPress website-publishing platform. He also reported that the group was losing money on the app, drawing from NPRвЂ™s financial statement for the 2020 fiscal year to find that the public radio mothership had lost $800,000 on the app during that time period. In January, CurrentвЂ™s Tyler Falk reportedВ that, less than a year after raising additional funds from BBC Studio Americas, the consortium agreed to sell off Pocket Casts to a new buyer. Despite strong initial optimism and a stated emphasis on experimentation - вЂњWe want to help make podcast discovery a better experience for listeners and its delivery and distribution more valuable to podcast creators,вЂќ Thomas Hjelm, then holding the role as NPRвЂ™s Chief Digital Officer, told me at the timeВ - it never ended up being entirely clear what the consortium strategically had in mind with the app, which, in my understanding, continued to enjoy a strong following. The original participants of the consortium were NPR, WNYC Studios, Chicago Public Media, and This American Life, with BBC Studios Americas stepping in last March as a new investor. Originally created about a decade ago when Ivanovic and Simpson were operating as the independent Australian mobile development firm Shifty Jelly, the app was eventually acquired by a consortium of public-radio organizations in the summer of 2018. That weвЂ™re seeing a change in ownership for Pocket Casts shouldnвЂ™t come as a surprise.

A spokesperson for Automattic noted that the company had no additional details to share beyond whatвЂ™s mentioned in the official blog post on the matter, and a message by Ivanovic and Simpson sent out to its user base yesterday morning stated that they expect to share more details on what this transition for the app means over the coming weeks, and that they donвЂ™t expect users to notice any immediate changes to Pocket Casts for now. The terms of the deal were not made public. The move was announced early Friday, with Automattic stating that the co-founders of the popular podcast app, Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson, will continue to lead the product after the change in ownership. Some news, in case you missed it: Pocket Casts acquired by Automattic, parent company of Wordpress. This article first ran in Hot Pod, an industry-leading trade newsletter about podcasting by Nick Quah.

Pocket casts podcast list