Australian-based Pocket Casts which was on sale in January by its public radio consortium owners have now been acquired by Automatic. The same company which is best known for WordPress.com and has also bought Tumblr from Verizon in 2019, will now be responsible for this podcast service.
The reason for the sales of this service was, “[further] public radio’s leading role as an innovator in audio discovery and distribution while ensuring the continued support and growth of one of the most popular listening platforms on the market.”
The company also sent out an email to its users regarding how Pocket Casts will offer its services after this acquisition. The email read that, “expect you to notice any immediate changes to the way Pocket Casts works.” They tout this “exciting transition” as making possible a “bigger and better” app.
Automattic also announced that the original app cofounders Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson will remain in their roles. However, for now, after the acquisition, the Pocket Casts development team is yet to comment on the news of their plans.
“Pocket Casts will continue to provide you with the features needed to enjoy your favorite podcasts (or find something new).” “Deep integrations” will be offered between the podcasting service and WordPress.com and the goal which both of them have agreed upon is that of “making it easier to distribute and listen to podcasts.”
Its also well known that Pocket Casts has been free to download with a $9.99/year Pocket Casts Plus which is available for Mac, Windows, and Apple Watch. As to whether the plan will remain the same will be known sooner.
