• Spotify has unveiled a new feature that allows publishers to take existing radio broadcasts and turn them into podcasts.
• The B2P tool comes after Spotify acquired an Australian company in 2021 to make the process possible.
• It is viewed as an additional vehicle for advertising for publishers.

You may have forgotten that Spotify acquired an Australian podcast technology platform called Whooshkaa in 2021, as it look to build upon its Megaphone capabilities. Now that acquisition is coming full circle, with the music streaming platform announcing this week a new tool that allows publishers to turn radio broadcasts into podcasts.

For those unfamiliar with Megaphone, it is Spotify’s podcasting platform for publishers and professionals, offering a comprehensive set of tools to help them publish, measure, and monetise their podcast content.

“This technology, which we are calling broadcast-to-podcast (B2P), gives broadcast publishers—whether they’re already in the podcast game or new to the medium—an easy-to-use tool that allows them to leverage existing content to reach new, younger audiences and extend their revenue potential,” explains the company in a blog post.

Extolling the benefits of this new tool, Spotify says it offers a rather seamless experience, particularly when it comes to handling previously broadcasted content.

“After a simple, one-time setup process in Megaphone, broadcast-to-podcast will automatically create new podcast episodes from previously broadcasted content, making it easier than ever for broadcast publishers to reach new audiences with their content,” it notes.

“It typically takes publishing teams approximately 30 to 60 minutes to manually convert each individual broadcast episode to a podcast. This includes downloading the episode off the radio platform, removing the ad spots, placing ad markers, and uploading the episode to a podcast platform,” Spotify continues.

Along with doing a lot of the heavy lifting, Spotify is also billing this new tool as a new revenue generator for publishers, as it means listeners are able to continue to interact with their content, especially if they have not interacted with radio broadcasts previously.

“Our broadcast-to-podcast feature enables broadcast publishers to reach new audiences, unlock more monetization opportunities, and give loyal fans more access to their content from anywhere. And now it’s available to all Megaphone partners globally,” the company concluded.

Whether it will indeed be the boon that Spotify says it will be, remains to be seen.