Amazon on Wednesday said it had agreed to purchase Wondery, a podcast production company behind several on-demand audio shows including “Business Wars” and “Dr. Death.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a source told the Wall Street Journal that Amazon will pay $300 million for Wondery. The Journal had reported in early December that Amazon and Wondery were discussing a possible acquisition.
Wondery specializes in true crime and dramatic podcasts. Amazon said those podcasts and future ones produced by Wondery will continue to be available on other platforms like Spotify, Pocket Casts and Stitcher as well as Amazon Music.
Amazon’s purchase of Wondery continues a trend of large media companies swallowing up podcast startups as audiences and advertisers shift their attention to their on-demand offerings.
The acquisitions also help companies like Spotify, which purchased Gimlet Media earlier this year, and Stitcher parent company SiriusXM Pandora increase their content offerings, which make their standalone products more attractive to subscribers and advertisers alike.
