Spotify Announces Partnership With Filmmaker Ava DuVernay

 Despite all the financial deals flying around the podcasting space these days -- Amazon and Wondery, iHeart and Warner Media, SiriusXM and Stitcher-- it is still content that is king. Spotify took a giant step toward enhancing the content of its podcast network by announcing today a multi-year partnership with award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay (Selma, 13th, Queen Sugar). 

Together, Spotify and DuVernay will produce exclusive scripted and unscripted original audio programming through ARRAY, DuVernay’s multi-platform arts and social impact collective dedicated to narrative change.

"Spotify has stepped up to the plate," remarks podcast consultant George Witt. "They've added a strong lineup of content."

Witt is referring to content enhancements such as Spotify combining morning tunes with pop culture in The Get Up, a new weekday morning show in late October.

In late September, Spotify and Chernin Entertainment completed a multi-year partnership to adapt podcast content for television, film and digital video. The deal - which will provide Chernin with access to more than 250 Spotify original series from Spotify Studios, Gimlet, Parcast, and The Ringer - accelerates growth in Spotify’s audio business with new content being introduced to the platform on a daily basis.

Around Labor Day, Spotify announced their latest content deal with the internet’s longtime favorite comedic personalities and fashion & lifestyle icons Rickey Thompson and Denzel Dion for an upcoming podcast series. Thompson counts 5.9 million followers on Instagram and Dion has 1.8 million Instagram followers.

In the summer, Spotify's new For The Record podcast debuted, explored the tunes, the tones and the timbre of music, taking listeners even deeper behind the scenes with fresh insights in the world of music, podcasting and tech. The series seamlessly blends voices from within Spotify, industry experts to discuss cultural events, listening trends, the tech behind the Spotify platform and more. 

Now under the exclusive partnership, ARRAY will join Spotify and their global reach – which recently surpassed 144 million Premium subscribers and more than 320 million monthly active users around the world – to amplify a variety of voices and perspectives through podcasting. 

“Recognizing the undeniable power of voice and sound, I’m thrilled to extend ARRAY’s storytelling into the realm of podcasts,” shared DuVernay. “The opportunity to work with Lydia Polgreen and her passionate team drew us to Spotify as a home for our audio narratives and we couldn’t be more excited to begin this new creative journey.”

“Spotify’s partnership with ARRAY continues our commitment to bringing the world’s most powerful and creative voices into podcasting,” said Spotify Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer, Dawn Ostroff. “We look forward to Spotify listeners hearing from the exceptional creators that ARRAY will be bringing to our global platform.”

ARRAY will partner with Spotify’s Gimlet studio on a number of scripted and unscripted narrative podcasts overseen by ARRAY Filmworks President Sarah Bremner.

“Ava DuVernay and her team at ARRAY are at the forefront of telling powerful stories about the most pressing issues of our time,” said Lydia Polgreen, Managing Director of Gimlet. “We’re so excited to bring their passion for lifting up forgotten and neglected voices to life in audio.” 

All podcasts on Spotify, including those exclusive titles stemming from this partnership, are available for free. 

Podcast consultant Witt explains that this Spotify / ARRAY deal benefits the two companies and also the listeners. 

"Podcasting is attracting some big-name talent from other media," Witt notes. "ARRAY will most certainly bring compelling content to podcasting and to Spotify."

"The winner in all this content escalation is ultimately the listener," concludes Witt.