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Spotify is in talks to buy Gimlet Media — a Brooklyn-based podcasting company co-founded by former “This American Life” producer Alex Blumberg — for more than $200 million, Recode first reported and the WSJ confirmed.
The big picture: Apple dominates podcast distribution right now. And while Spotify has been promoting podcasts to its base of 200 million users in recent months, this would be the company's first big move into podcasting, as it works to enhance its narrative-audio offerings. It would also mark Spotify’s first purchase of a content production and distribution company.
Between the lines: Podcasting offers media companies ad space where Facebook and Google currently aren't dominant, as the tech giants have almost nothing in podcasts and audio ads, Axios' Felix Salmon notes.