Amazon is once again racing to buy the rights to top podcasts and the networks that share them. According for Bloomberg, Amazon is purchasing exclusive distribution and advertising rights to the popular true-crime series “My Favorite Murder” and other podcasts from Exactly Right Media. Amazon Music and Wondery will offer episodes a week before they are available anywhere else, and Amazon will have exclusive rights to sell ads. The Wondery+ paid service will offer ad-free programs.
The company did not disclose the terms of the agreement. When Amazon bought the celebrity SmartLess podcast, paid $80 million for a three-year contract that also included one-week exclusives.
The deal comes as Amazon races to compete with Spotify and other tech giants by snapping up big podcasts. While the “My Favorite Murder” deal isn’t entirely exclusive, the goal is the same: Amazon wants to encourage usage of its services and, ideally, add some paying customers. Whatever the company spends now could be worth it if it persuades you to switch apps and bring in years of money for ads or subscriptions.
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