TipRanks

Notifications

Amazon Strengthens Music Service with SmartLess Podcast Exclusive Rights – Report

Amazon (AMZN) is strengthening its subscription-based music service by acquiring exclusive rights to “SmartLess,” a podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes.  Terms of the three-year exclusive deal remain under wraps. However, Bloomberg reports that the total value of the deal is between $60 million and $80 million, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to Bloomberg, new podcast episodes will start appearing on Amazon Music and Wondery + on August 1. New episodes will also appear on the two platforms a week before they are made available on other outlets. (See Amazon stock chart on TipRanks)

Wondery, an Amazon podcasting studio, will handle all distribution, marketing, and advertising sales of the SmartLess podcasts.

Amazon, Spotify (SPOT), and Apple (AAPL) are increasingly investing in podcasts as they provide a way of attracting more customers to their platforms. In return, they can sell them their other services and products.

In recent years, Spotify has spent over $1 billion on podcasting studios, with the latest investment being on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast hosted by comedian Alexandra Cooper. Amazon has also not been left behind, having acquired Wondery last year, followed by a deal for podcast hosting service ART19 last week. (See Spotify stock chart on TipRanks)

Following the Amazon Prime Day shopping event last week, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak estimated that Prime Day’s revenue was up 7% to $3.8 billion, with gross merchandise value increasing 9% to $6.8 billion.

The analyst reiterated a Buy rating on the stock and a $4,500 price target, implying 30.51% upside potential to current levels.

Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 33 Buys. The average Amazon price target of $4,281.25 implies 24.16% upside potential to current levels.

AMZN scores a “Perfect 10” on TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system, indicating that the stock has strong potential to outperform market expectations.

Related News:
QAD Acquired by Thoma Bravo, Stock Up 19%
Amazon Lands Cloud Deal with Swisscom
Coinbase Secures License to Offer Crypto Services in Germany – Report

Neha Gupta
Neha Gupta has worked in the financial industry for over six years. Gupta earned her MBA degree from Symbiosis Centre of Distance Learning in 2009 and her passion for finance led her to pursue Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. She has successfully completed Level II of her CFA.