Apple Podcasts launches in-app subscriptions - The Verge

A monumental change is coming to Apple Podcasts’ business: the company is launching subscriptions within the Apple Podcasts app. During its spring event today, the company announced that people will be able to subscribe to content from the app for extra perks, like ad-free and bonus content, as well as early access. It’ll launch in 170 regions and countries next month.

Initial partners include Pushkin Industries, QCODE, and NPR. It appears that content creators will have to pay Apple $19.99 per year in order to offer subscriptions, but Apple doesn’t appear to be taking a cut of their subscription revenue.

The app is also getting a redesign with channels to help people find new content curated by their favorite creators. These channels will feature artwork, titles, and descriptions unique to Apple Podcasts, and some might promote free content while others are paid. Luminary, a subscription-based podcast app that launched in 2019, is an initial channel partner. The company said today that people will be able to subscribe to Luminary shows from Apple Podcasts, as well as in the Luminary app. The Athletic appears to be offering a similar setup, too.

Other new features include a “Smart Play” button that’ll allow listeners to automatically start episodic shows from the newest episode and serialized shows from the beginning of the series. Listeners can also save individual episodes, which are downloaded for offline playback.

Overall, Apple is seemingly taking a bigger interest in the creators that use its platform to reach listeners. People widely speculated that Apple would launch a subscription service to promote its own original content, which have focused on companion shows for its TV Plus and Books content. Now, it appears that Apple instead sees an opportunity to make money off the podcasters themselves without investing in its own exclusive programming. This could set Apple up to more directly compete with platforms like Patreon, which have courted podcasters. If Apple only charges $19.99 per year, versus Patreon’s up to 9 percent of subscription revenue, it might be worth it for podcasters to switch their main subscription work over to the platform.

Apple has, for years, been the de facto app on which people listen to podcasts, partially because of its pre-installation on iPhones. That is, up until Spotify entered the fold in earnest in 2019. Since then, the company has been gunning for Apple’s market share, bolstered by flashy exclusive deals, acquisitions, and the company’s own podcast creation software funnel. The strategy appears to be working. eMarketer reported last month that this year, 28.2 million people will listen to podcasts in the US on Spotify versus Apple Podcasts’ 28 million. A separate report from Voxnest last year also found Spotify gaining ground in the US, specifically in New Jersey and California where it says the player has overtaken Apple.

Spotify has voiced an interest in helping creators monetize, as well, so it could end up competing with Apple for creators’ exclusive content, or podcasters will end up having to manage their subscriptions across various apps.

Developing… we’re adding more to this post, but you can follow along with our Apple “Spring Loaded” live blog to get the news even faster.

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