Among the announcements of the latest Apple event there is one that has passed rather quietly, especially in Italy. It’s the arrival of a completely redesigned Podcast app, with a whole new interface and new features. Among these, the most important is the possibility for users to subscribe to premium subscriptions that offer benefits such as additional content, ad-free listening, early or exclusive access to new series.
“Fifteen years ago, Apple popularized podcasts, giving creators a first open platform to inform, entertain and inspire hundreds of millions of listeners around the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. . “Today, Apple Podcasts is the best place for listeners to discover and enjoy millions of great shows, and we are proud to lead the next chapter of podcasting with Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. We are thrilled to introduce this powerful new platform to creators around the world. world, and we can’t wait to hear what they will do with it. “
New interface
Among the novelties of the new interface are the channels, curated by the creators with unique titles, descriptions and illustrations. Listeners will be able to browse free channels, which make it easy to find more shows from their favorite creators, and paid ones and channels that provide additional benefits for subscribers. These include content from independent voices, such as Tenderfoot TV, Pushkin Industries, Radiotopia from PRX, or QCODE, but also big names like NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Athletic, Sony Music Entertainment and others.
On the other hand, for creators, the new Apple Podcasts for Creators website provides data and information to better circulate podcasts, with new features, such as the ability to edit metadata, schedule and manage show availability, organize them in channels, manage multiple users and roles, and find out how listeners are engaged through new performance metrics and visualization tools. Maximum control over advertising too, for those who opt for this monetization route: the choice is all in the hands of the creators.
Prices and availability
Apple Podcasts subscriptions will be available to listeners in over 170 countries in May. Pricing is set by creators and billed monthly by default, but annual billing is also possible. Podcasters will pay Apple $ 19.99 a month to activate subscriptions, and set their own prices for listeners. Apple will collect 30% of subscription revenue in the first year and 15% for subsequent years.
Listeners will also be able to access free trials and free episodes offered by the creators. Apple Podcasts today has a catalog of over 2 million free episodes and is available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod mini, CarPlay, iTunes on Windows and other smart speakers and car systems; Up to six family members will be able to share a subscription using with Family Sharing.
A growing market
It was Apple who gave podcasts the first push, over 15 years ago: the name comes from the crasis between “iPod” and “broadcast”, and at the beginning they were the only non-musical contents available for iPod. For a long time the Cupertino company has limited itself to managing podcasts through iTunes, and only recently has it launched a special app, Podcast, in fact. With iOS 14.5 and the new version of the application, even if the basic listening mode remains free, users will be able to support and reward their favorite artists financially.
But Apple is not alone in the race to monetize: other news and partnerships are expected soon, a sign of the renewed interest of the public, companies and content producers for podcasts. Platforms such as iHeartMedia, Audacy (formerly Entercom), Sirius XM Holdings have focused on podcasts. And even Amazon, always looking for new content for its devices to add to the Prime offer, even at the risk of entering into competition with itself, or rather with Audible, the world‘s leading audiobook producer, purchased in 2008 for 300 million dollars.
Podcasts exploded during the lockdown: today they are a market worth nearly a billion dollars in advertising alone and in the United States alone. An estimated 116 million Americans, or 41% of the US population over the age of 12, listen to at least one podcast a month, an 11% increase from 2020 (sources Edison Research and Triton Digital).
Spotify has invested hundreds of millions in the industry, and was the first to seek to make the medium financially viable through advertising and subscriptions. Today it has 2.2 million podcasts, compared to 450,000 in 2019 and aims to overtake Apple’s platform, which in three years has lost shares, from 34 percent of the market in 2018 to 24 percent in 2021. In the week that has just closed, the Swedish company has announced an agreement with Facebook to stimulate discovery and listening on the social network platforms. According to analysts and industry experts, Spotify is also about to launch a paid option, which could arrive as early as next week.