With 67 million regular listeners in the United States, podcasting is one of the hottest mediums in media right now. When podcasting platform Anchor launched in 2016, the company aimed to give audiophiles a place to record and distribute their creations in a social media-like setting.
“When we originally created Anchor, it was built on the concept of making great audio creation and sharing accessible,” CEO Michael Mignano told Built In NYC. “We found that podcasters began using Anchor to take advantage of these features to enhance their programs.”
After raising an impressive $10 million Series A round in September 2017, Anchor’s team set to work on a total re-launch of their product. “The floodgates really opened when we launched our one-touch podcast feature that allowed users to distribute the audio they created on Anchor to podcast platforms,” Mignano said. “We saw that what users really wanted was to create a podcast.”
Now, Anchor 3.0 has arrived, bringing with it a bundle of new and improved features. The mobile app, available for iOS and Android, has been entirely redesigned, allowing users to add sound effects and music from Spotify, as well as record audio from a phone call, among other features.
Particularly exciting for podcasters is the launch of Anchor’s web-based dashboard, which will allow users to sync their mobile and desktop projects, as well as expand their distribution capabilities. As of the update, Anchor users are a click away from sending their finished podcasts to Amazon Alexa, Android Auto, Apple Carplay, Apple HomePod, Apple Podcasts, Google Assistant, Google Play, Overcast, Pocketcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. Not too shabby!
I think we’re going to see a ton of innovation in the format and what we think as the definition of a podcast."
Yet, perhaps the most noteworthy feature of Anchor, is the fact that it remains completely free to all users — a strategy tied to Anchor’s goals of driving creativity. Looking ahead to the future of podcasting and Anchor, Mignano told Built In NYC, “I think we’re going to see a ton of innovation in the format and what we think as the definition of a podcast, as the opportunity to be a podcaster is opened up to anyone and everyone.”
Traditionally, podcasting can pose many roadblocks to the average creative. Expensive microphones and recording software, as well as the cost to host audio files, may leave someone with an otherwise brilliant idea thinking their big break is light years away. With Anchor, rising to the ranks of podcasting legends is a literal tap away.
“Because of the historical barriers to entry for podcasting, most of what we’ve heard as the medium has exploded is professionally produced content,” Mignano said. “That’s always going to have its place in the podcast realm, but over the next year and beyond I expect to hear a lot more amateur and casual voices telling stories.”
“[Anchor is] the easiest way to make a podcast — ever,” boasts the company’s statement on the update. It’s precisely this type of innovation that makes Anchor one of Built In NYC’s 50 Startups to Watch for 2018.
