Spotify signs DC superheroes for podcasts

Spotify has announced a deal that will see superheroes and villains from DC Comics and Warner Bros star in narrative podcasts on the platform.

The company has not revealed which characters will be featured but DC's roster includes Batman, Harley Quinn, Superman and Wonder Woman.

On Wednesday, Spotify revealed it was producing a podcast series with reality star Kim Kardashian West.

One analyst suggested it wanted to be less reliant on record labels.

'Negotiating position'

"It's hard to make money when you get all your content from a small group of powerful suppliers," Joseph Evans, from Enders Analysis, said.

"Podcasts are content that Spotify can own or deal with lots of small providers to get so it's in a more powerful negotiating position."

The value of Spotify's deal with DC and Warner Bros has not been revealed.

But the companies said the partnership would involve the "intellectual property (IP) of all of the DC superheroes and supervillains".

'Looks good'

"The DC character roster is really strong IP, so there's a readymade audience," Mr Evans said.

"Fiction podcasts have had a bit of a renaissance, so the timing looks good.

"If Spotify doesn't get it, someone else will.

And Spotify is gunning to be the number-one podcast platform, even if it costs a lot of cash."

Exclusive deal

Spotify's DC podcasts will be available for all users, both free and premium subscribers.

Mr Evans suggested the podcasts could help "contribute to excitement and fandom around the fictional worlds" created by DC while pulling more listeners on to Spotify's platform.

In May, Spotify signed an exclusive deal with Joe Rogan, which will see his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, disappear from all other platforms.

The multi-year deal is believed to be worth $100m (£82m), according to the Wall Street Journal.