May 07, 2025

PodX Group acquires Lemonada; Spotify launch “plays”

3 minutes

Sponsored by RedCircle. Want to read ads for Recess, FIJI Water, or Mood? With us you can. Regardless of where you host. Sign up.

PodX Group is to acquire Lemonada Media. The Swedish company already owns a number of podcast production houses across the world; it’s their first acquisition in the US. No terms were given.

Last month, PodX merged its three UK companies.

Spotify announced that it is to add a “play” count, visible within the app, for all podcasts. “Plays will capture engagement across audio and video content on Spotify”, the company says, also pointing to a blog post for creators.

But, what exactly are plays? “Plays are a new metric that reflects the number of times people have actively watched or listened to any episode in your catalog,” the Spotify for Creators page says - but gives no detail of how this is calculated. Podnews asked Spotify for the definition of a “play”: it’s a measure of “intentional engagement”, we were told, but were sent no further clarification on how it is calculated (even when we asked again). Consumption will now be confusingly displayed to creators in “streams”, “downloads” and “plays”, but without a definition of what a “play” is, it seems an opaque and self-serving number, and is disappointing.

Consumption hours and consumption hours by user will also now be available.

The Canadian Podcast Listener, a survey of podcast consumption in Canada, will contain enhanced video podcast metrics when it is released later this year. The research will break out actual audio and video consumption among genres, top podcasts, and among all podcast consumers.

> > > Read more of today’s podcast industry news stories on the Podnews website: and get our free daily newsletter.

Classifieds - your job or ad here

Work with an award winning podcast producer! — I can save you hours of editing so you can focus on making great content. Book a free Discovery Call with me, Niall Mackay, to see how we can help you! “Top-notch podcasts, expertly produced.”
🏆 Half of the top podcasters use Supporting Cast! — NPR, Lemonada, Wondery, SiriusXM, and more trust Supporting Cast to sell & deliver their subscription and exclusive content 📈. Get in touch!
🎵 Story-driven music for podcast creators 🆕 — Music for podcasters, documentarians and those with a story to tell. Thousands of royalty-free tracks composed for narrative use, fast editing and emotive scoring. Get your free 7-day trial today.

Gold supporters: Buzzsprout, Mowpod, Mamamia, PodMatch, The $100 MBA, Sounds Profitable, Cloud10, The Podglomerate, Audiohook, Resound, Podscribe, Steve Lack: Audio, Cohost, RedCircle, audioBoom, SALT, Simplecast, Riverside.fm, Jar Podcast Solutions, Podchaser, Awesound, We Edit Podcasts, Knucklehead Media Group, Acast, Disctopia, Evergreen Podcasts, Podpage websites

Silver supporters: Audacia Audio, Gamut Podcast Network, Bumper, Goalhanger, Sounds Debatable, Magellan AI, Gilded Audio, Truefans, SoundStack, Gumball, The Podcast Haven, POW PR, ARN's iHeartPodcast Network Aust, Jonekiri, Red Seat Ventures, Tink Media, Podium , Ausha, Castbox, Compliance Podcast Network, Frequency, The Roost, Voxtopica, Ask Ralph Christian Finance, Huberman Lab, Storyboard, Podcastpage, Message Heard, Health Podcast Network, Jam Street Media, Blubrry, Oxford Road, Castos, Heartcast Media50, Double Elvis Productions, Wondery, Transistor, Headliner, Diversion Podcasts, Sonic Influencer Marketing, Optimal Living Daily, Podcast Taxi, Lemonada Media, Zvook, Ossa Collective, matchmaker.fm, Rephonic, Rhapsody Voices, Ad Results Media, Content10x, Podcast Partnership, StreamGuys, Hear.Here.Singapore, Cleanfeed, She Podcasts, Adopter Media, Lower Street, Podcast Movement, Revolver Podcasts, Sonix, Podigy, School of Podcasting, Signal Hill Insights, Edison Research

Our supporters pay for Podnews, so everyone can read it. Join them today.

Image: David Trinks

...more

View all episodes

By Podnews LLC

4.3

7676 ratings