Some of the world's top creators joined Spotify at our L.A. campus today for Now Playing, where we unveiled a series of new offerings aimed at helping them better monetize their video podcasts on Spotify and grow their audiences. This marks our biggest update to podcasts on Spotify, including an exciting evolution of the name and brand of our accompanying platform to Spotify for Creators-all to better serve the multiformat needs of our community.
Guests mingled with Spotify leaders and employees, explored our cutting-edge production facilities, and attended panels to hear more about their business opportunities on Spotify. Among these creators was David Rosenthal, who cohosts Acquired with Ben Gilbert.
David Rosenthal, Colin Rosenblum, Samir Chaudry and Austin Lamon (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for Spotify)
Acquired delves deep into the world's most fascinating companies, delivering one multihour, meticulously researched episode every six weeks or so. Since debuting in 2015, the show has become a podcast sensation. It has racked up more than 5.2 million listening hours on Spotify since 2019, with consumption hours tripling in the last year alone. And in September, Acquired packed San Francisco's Chase Center with 6,000 fans for a live show, which included a conversation with Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek.
With so much buzz about the future of podcasting, For the Record caught up with David to learn about Acquired's origins, the creative process behind the show, and the impact Spotify has had on its journey.
What inspired you to start your show? We were just friends with a common esoteric interest in company histories and wanted an excuse to scratch that itch and spend more time together. We had no idea or expectations that it would ever amount to anything more than a hobby, let alone change our lives so totally and completely!
How do you select the topics you cover? We just follow our interests! While we do have a long list of potential future companies to cover, after each episode Ben and I generally just ask ourselves, What are we most excited about doing right now? and go with that. Sometimes that's already on the list and sometimes it's not.
How has working with Spotify helped strengthen your connection with your fans? We can't overstate enough how much Spotify has done to make podcasts mainstream and grow the ecosystem over the past several years. There's no way we'd be able to reach an audience that's now in the millions without the platform Spotify has built!
What advice do you have for emerging creators? One, only do this if you love it. Not because there's no money in it-there is plenty. But the marketplace for content is so incredibly vast today that unless you're truly the most obsessed person in the world about your particular niche, someone else will do it better than you. (And they are only one click away, for your audience.) And I think the only way to be the most obsessed person in the world about something is to deeply love it.
Two, quality over quantity-always, always, always. One truly great episode per month is worth infinitely more than four or 10 mediocre ones.
Are there any Spotify features or tools that are especially helpful for you? We don't do video often, but when we do for something special (like our recent Chase Center show), being able to have it seamlessly integrate and sync with the audio version on Spotify is tremendously awesome.
Who are some of your favorite creators to follow? Resonant Arc (deep retro video game analysis). It's like Acquired for the old-school video games I grew up with.
What are you currently listening to? Ben Thompson's [Stratechery episode] on Meta's AI advantage.
Check out more coverage from Spotify's Now Playing event.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
21/04/2026
Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...
21/04/2026
The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...
21/04/2026
5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...
21/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...
21/04/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...
21/04/2026
Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...
21/04/2026
Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...
21/04/2026
Fox Sports has selected Appear as a technology partner to support the next phase...
21/04/2026
Diversified has appointed Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to lead the company's commercial organisation. The appointment follows the firm'...
21/04/2026
Layercake has formalised the integration of Bitmovin's video streaming infra...
21/04/2026
The International Judo Federation (IJF) has extended its distribution partnershi...
21/04/2026
Glookast has launched the Cinnafilm Tachyon plugin for its Media Producer and Me...
21/04/2026
Eutelsat has entered into an agreement with Cadena Tres, a division of Grupo Ima...
21/04/2026
Dolby Laboratories and TV Azteca have partnered to introduce Dolby Atmos immersive audio to free-to-air television broadcasts. The implementation utilises the A...
21/04/2026
FOX Entertainment partnered with Verizon to overcome significant production hurd...
21/04/2026
Osprey Video has announced its technology showcase for the NAB Show 2026, highli...
21/04/2026
Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) introduced a range of new solutions at NAB S...
21/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
21/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine Immersive 100G, an immersive cinem...
21/04/2026
Clark Wire & Cable is continuing its evolution from cable supplier to full-scale solutions partner for broadcast and live production. At the 2026 NAB Show, we s...
21/04/2026
Rashad Frett attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Ricky at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shut...
21/04/2026
Five years ago, Spotify arrived in Pakistan, opening a new chapter in the country's music scene. Since then, local listeners have explored across genres, ge...
21/04/2026
Since its launch in 2020, RADAR has been our program for spotlighting emerging artists around the world. This year marks the sixth edition of RADAR Spain, our o...
21/04/2026
Offers compact wireless solution for pedalboards
Taiwanese audio brand Cloudvocal have announced the availability of a new pedalboard-friendly wireless syst...
21/04/2026
Latest hybrid sampling/synthesis instrument arrives
Arturia's Augmented series offerings rely on a mixture of sampling and synthesis, allowing users to ...
21/04/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to host Power Electronics Online Conference From Design to Vali...
21/04/2026
MAS and Lockheed Martin partner to establish an F-35 depot in Canada, enabling in-country sustainment and creating high-skilled aerospace jobs....
21/04/2026
Advertising strategies shift as competition grows for a large, active and qualit...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-End Media Orchestration w...
21/04/2026
Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse...
21/04/2026
On-Premise AI Suite from Studio Network Solutions Debuts at NAB Show 2026
Melanie Ciotti April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Unlimited processing, no cloud depe...
21/04/2026
London, 21 April 2026 IBC today announced the appointment of Tim Banham as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), a newly created role that reflects the or...
21/04/2026
Motion Design Tools - April 2026
Roland Kahlenberg April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Within 2 days, Maxon and Canva announced pro-level motion design apps - A...
21/04/2026
Chaos and Zero Density to Showcase Real-Time Ray Tracing for Virtual Studios and...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
Some of the world's top creators joined Spotify at our L.A. campus today for Now Playing, where we unveiled a series of new offerings aimed at helping them better monetize their video podcasts on Spotify and grow their audiences. This marks our biggest update to podcasts on Spotify, including an exciting evolution of the name and brand of our accompanying platform to Spotify for Creators-all to better serve the multiformat needs of our community.
