Deezer acquires podcast app Stitcher
Spotify-style streaming service Deezer has announced that it has acquired Stitcher, a podcasting app.
Wait, who?
Deezer, which launched in 2007, is a streaming service a bit like Spotify – and has been almost entirely focused on music until now. Meanwhile Stitcher is a podcast app: The premise is that you tell Stitcher what you want, and it will ‘stitch’ together related audio. The combined company will apparently feature over 35m music tracks and 35,000 radio shows and podcasts.
“Almost every music listener listens to some form of talk radio, whether it is news, entertainment or sports,” said Daniel Marhely, Founder of Deezer. “We see the ability to deliver better talk streaming solutions in the same way that we are doing in music to super serve the needs of our global audience of 16 million users and growing. The acquisition of Stitcher helps us realise this opportunity.”
The press release mentions that Deezer will use the acquisition as an opportunity to expand into cars: Stitcher is already available in over 50 models of car, and is also an Apple CarPlay and Android Auto launch partner – so this is a neat way of skipping through bureaucratic hoops to get in there too.
Unfortunately the company hasn’t disclosed how much it paid. We’re just wondering if Soundcloud are looking a little bit nervous over there?
