Automattic, owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com, buys Pocket Casts podcast app

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Pocket Casts has a new owner. Automattic, which operates WordPress.com and recently acquired Tumblr, announced today that it has acquired Pocket Casts, the highly respected podcast app. The blog post announcing the purchase didn’t do much in the way of a preview, but it did raise potential future integrations.

“As part of Automattic, Pocket Casts will continue to provide you with the features needed to enjoy your favorite podcast (or find something new),” the post says. “We will explore building deep integrations with WordPress.com and Pocket Casts, making it easier to distribute and listen to podcasts.”

Pocket Casts launched in 2010 and was sold to NPR and a host of other public media groups eight years later. It’s been well received, especially from sites like The Verge, because it’s available across platforms. It started monetizing with a program called Pocket Casts Plus, which charges users a monthly subscription fee for features like access to desktop apps and the standalone Apple Watch app in 2019.

Pocket Casts initially went up for sale in January after its board of members of the public media voted in favor. The app, which is free to download, has been losing money, and NPR has reportedly lost $800,000 in the past year. We’ve reached out to Automattic to comment on how it plans to monetize the app, as well as to find out more about whether it’s working to keep all Pocket Cast employees working full time. We’ll update if we hear back.

Pocket Casts went on sale in January

Interestingly, the Spotify Anchor-owned app announced a partnership with WordPress.com in February of this year, allowing people to convert blog posts into audio content with just a few clicks. Although the feature is based on text-to-speech technology, which is not personal and looks like a real human, the general idea clearly speaks to WordPress’ interest in helping bloggers communicate through podcasts.

Presumably, it will continue to build on this vision with the acquisition of Pocket Casts. Although Pocket Casts is a listening app, it is also known for its discovery and curation features. Automattic can push people towards content from WordPress users.

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