What's New With Popular Podcast Platforms

WHAT’S NEW WITH POPULAR PODCAST PLATFORMS

2021 is about to close and podcasting is set to hit another record high with the number of listeners and episodes released. There are now 48 million podcast episodes and 2 million active shows to choose from. Podcasting’s rising popularity has opened doors to personalities and even businesses to reach a new audience. 

With the increased market acceptance, popular podcast platforms have released updates that aim to make it easier for content creators to monetize and promote. This article is a round-up of what platforms are offering to attract more podcast creators like you! 

SPOTIFY 

The battle for podcast platform supremacy is neck to neck between Spotify and Apple. According to TechCrunch, Spotify would reach 28.2 million monthly U.S. podcast listeners by end of 2021 beating Apple Podcast’s 28.0 million by a slim margin.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek credits the success to their investment in platform improvements, increased content and product innovations. He was quoted saying “We fought hard to gain new listeners. And our success is not attributable to just one thing, but literally hundreds, if not thousands, of improvements that we’re working on in parallel for the benefit of creators, users and advertisers alike.”

With the increased content, Spotify Advertising added options to make advertising easier by offering voice ads out of text scripts for free. Spotify also launched two podcasts that will focus on its platform for the creators such as “Spotify: Mic Check” and “Spotify: For the Record”.

APPLE Podcasts

Apple began hosting podcasts in 2005 and has been a market captain since then. However, the aggressive entrance of Spotify has led them to lose some listeners and threatened to be displaced as the top podcast platform in the US by the end of 2021. The revamp of Apple’s Podcast was met with disappointment starting with the confusing interface and a series of bugs and errors. Apple issued a fix for one critical bug related to automatic downloads but the damage to its reputation may take longer to recover.

To rebound from this, Apple will work on their Podcast Subscriptions launched in June this year. It allows users to subscribe to premium podcasts with benefits such as ad-free listening, access to additional content, and early or exclusive access to new series. This also opened doors to new ways for podcast creators to monetize their podcasts. 

AMAZON MUSIC

In 2020, Amazon invited podcasts creators to upload their content in Amazon Music and Audible and eventually rolled out podcasts in Amazon Music. With this movement, Amazon seems to be posing as a platform to watch out for. 

Amazon acquired podcast firm Wondery before 2020 ended which can boost their plans to go into original content. Recently they released synchronized podcast transcripts for select shows making them a first in the US market. This feature is similar to the lyrics feature introduced by Amazon Music in 2013. Customers can navigate an episode by scrolling through the transcript to find a specific spot and tap on it. This can widen followers by allowing people with hearing impairments to enjoy podcasts in another way.

These are just some of the popular platforms but there have been improvements with other platforms as well such as Overcast, Luminary, and Twitch. The market for podcasts is growing and is slated to go even higher in the years to come. Whether you’re just starting a podcast or have one already, you have to stay on top of platform updates since these are the go-to places for your audience.

Want to start a podcast or grow your existing show? Check out the Podcast Town Academy!