The Next Phase of Social? Listen Closely | Andreessen Horowitz

Voice synthesis technology may be the solution. A new startup would help existing podcasters create “voiceprints” based on existing content. Then, within the system, advertisers could bid to target anonymized individuals based on their demographics but divorced from the podcast they were listening to. Staking creators: creators to serve as curators... See more

Beyond creation, there are exciting innovations for fan engagement and content monetization. Audio has been notoriously under-monetized relative to other forms of media. So far, we’ve seen products like Glow, which offers a way to distribute and monetize premium podcast content.

The first wave of media was fueled by cheap audience acquisition from social media companies like Facebook which created BuzzFeed and UpWorth. The second wave is the subscription wave. Consumers want curation, contextualization, and recommendations

I believe the short term winner in this game will be a new company we haven’t seen yet. A developer first audio API built for bringing social audio networks to existing apps. Think of all the games and apps that could be dramatically improved if there was in app audio chat. Look at Fortnite - Epic didn’t succeed just because they built a dope game ... See more