Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, announced on Friday that they have acquired Pocket Casts, one of the most popular and feature-rich podcast listening apps. And the app will now be a part of the Automattic company.

The company also acquired Tumblr from Verizon in 2019. And in the last month they have acquired the popular Day One journaling app.

As part of Automattic, Pocket Casts will continue to provide you with the features needed to enjoy your favorite podcasts (or find something new). We will explore building deep integrations with WordPress.com and Pocket Casts, making it easier to distribute and listen to podcasts. We’re thrilled that we can continue to give our users a multitude of ways to tell and engage with stories that matter.

Pocket Casts is available for both iOS and Android devices. It has evolved into one of the most popular cross-platform podcast apps. It’s notable to see one of the largest third-party podcast apps join Automattic. But it seems that Pocket Casts will continue running independently under Automattic.

Pocket Casts will continue to be led by co-founders Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson. And we may soon see a future integration of Pocket Casts with WordPress.com to help content creators make their content more engaging.

The New York Times, WIRED, The Verge recongnizes and other top publications The Pocket Casts for its exquisite design and user-friendly features.

More abotut Pocket Casts

Pocket Casts, based in Australia, was founded in 2010 and was acquired by top podcast producers NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life in May 2018.

It began monetizing with a program called Pocket Casts Plus, which starts at $9.99/year. And includes features like access to desktop (Mac, Windows, and web) apps, Apple Watch support. And cloud storage to upload your own audio files.

Pocket Casts first went on the market in January, following a vote by its board of public media members. The free-to-download app was losing money, with NPR reportedly losing $800,000 on it last year.

Anchor, a Spotify-owned app, announced a partnership with WordPress.com in February of this year. With a few clicks, users can convert blog posts into audio content. This feature is based on text-to-speech technology. And does not feel personal to the creator and doesn’t sound human to the listeners. As a result, WordPress’s latest acquisition of Pocket Casts reflects its interests.

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