With its wider focus on audio rather than just podcasts, Podimo needs now to be counted alongside Storytel, Nextory and BookBeat as a serious player in the global audio arena.
When Podimo first launched in Denmark in September 2019 it was to the bemusement of many. Podcasts were the poor relative of audiobooks, given away for free because no-one would ever pay money for a podcast.
Morten Strunge thought differently, initially raising $6.7 million in seed funding for a project most of the publishing industry paid no attention to whatsoever.
Few took much notice when Podimo reported over 70,000 users in the first couple of months.
Six months later Podimo clocked another $16.8 million investment as tech money saw the podcast potential publishers were still oblivious to.
In early 2021 Podimo took a bold step into the unknown and launched simultaneously in 20 Latin American countries.
By late 2021 most of the world – and even some in publishing – were waking up to audio, the new buzzword that brought together audiobooks and podcasts as a meaningful commercial entity – and with it came another $78 million cash injection from those in the know.
Nowadays Podimo proudly proclaims itself an international podcast and audiobook service, and has clear ambitions on Storytel’s crown, although Spotify might not rate Podimo’s chances too high.
This week Podimo launched in Finland, its sixth European market after Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands, explaining that, pre-launch,15% of Finnish podcast users already pay for the privilege. Podimo wants to grab some of the action and expand the market.
Per the press release,
XXXPodimo believes that the audio market has the same growth potential as video streaming services (and that) internationally the market is growing exponentially.
Read the full press release with all the usual CEO waffle but also some interesting detail on what’s hot, over at PodNews.
Strunge would appear to accept a launch in Sweden would be a hiding to nothing given the dominance of the audiobook market by Storytel, Nextory and BookBeat, but globally Podimo, with its wider focus on audio rather than just podcasts, needs now to be counted alongside Storytel, Nextory and BookBeat as a serious player in the global audio arena.
