A cool app just got some major support.
Pocket Casts, considered to be one of the best mobile apps for podcast listening, has been acquired by a collective group that includes NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life.
Moving forward, Pocket Casts will operate as a joint venture between the new owners. Philip Simpson and Russell Ivanovic, who formed Shifty Jelly, the company that created Pocket Cast in 2008, will have unspecified “leadership roles.” The existing staff and development team is staying put. Owen Grover, a veteran of iHeartRadio / Clear Channel, has been named as Pocket Cast’s CEO. NPR’s apps including NPR One will remain in development.
As yet, the acquisition price has yet to be publicly disclosed. “We have had acquisition offers in the past,” Ivanovic stated in an email. “We turned them down because the unique thing about this opportunity is the mission driven nature of these organizations. They want what’s best for the podcasting space, they want to build open systems that everyone can use.”
The move comes among a trend of tech companies striving to become the central destination for podcasts. Apple has its own hugely popular Podcasts app for iOS, Spotify is trying to get people listening to them inside its streaming music app, and Google also offers podcasts as part of Google Play Music.
In a recent blog post, Ivanovic stated the following: “We’ll be moving faster, we’ll be more ambitious in the things we do and we’ll have some amazing insights from the top podcast producers in the world to help guide our future steps.”
Pocket Casts retails for $3.99 and requires iOS 10.0 or later to install and run.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Verge and Shifty Jelly and the App Store