Spotify to buy ad tech firm Megaphone to monetize podcasts in deal worth $235 million

Sweden-based Spotify Technology SA has agreed to buy podcast advertising and publishing platform Megaphone, it said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of deals to boost its podcast platform.

The deal is worth $235 million, a Spotify spokesman said.

The company will use Megaphone’s technology to create targeted ads, it said, and will also make its proprietary ad monitoring tools available to third-party podcast publishers.

Spotify, which earns revenue from paid subscriptions and by disseminating ads to non-paying users, saw its advertising business return to growth in the third quarter after it was hit by the pandemic earlier this year.