The podcasting battle to be the Netflix of audio

ABOVE THEDJFM din of chat-shows, dramas and documentaries streamed to blaring voice-activated speakers, a louder sound can be heard: ker-ching. On December 29th Spotify, an audio-streaming service, aired the first in a series of exclusive podcasts by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The next day Amazon bought Wondery, a producer of popular podcasts including “Dirty John” and “Dr Death”, for a sum reportedly in excess of $300m. The tech giant, which got into podcasting only in September, has also signed up expensive stars such as Will Smith and Khaled.The deals are the latest in an industry-wide spree. Last year Daniel Ek, Spotify’s boss, declared that “audio—not just music—would be the future” of his firm. Since then Spotify has been on a billion-dollar podcasting binge, acquiring production and ad-tech firms such as Gimlet, Anchor and Megaphone, as well as shows; in May it paid $100m for “The Joe Rogan Experience”. Apple, the biggest podcast distributor, has bought Scout , a podcasting app, and signed up stars like Oprah Winfrey.