The podcast trade has been flooded with massive cash over the previous couple of years, as companies and traders search to get in on a quickly rising media enterprise that’s obtained a lot of room for viewers and income progress. (Spotify alone is spending $500 million on podcast corporations and exclusive content material.)
And but over all this time, the trade’s largest participant hasn’t made any massive podcast enterprise strikes.
That participant is Apple—its Podcasts app is the highest podcast participant, with 50 to 70 p.c of the app market—and its time as a impartial supporter of the trade could also be coming to an finish. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Lucas Shaw report that Apple is speaking to media corporations about shopping for exclusive rights to podcasts.
This isn’t a stunning revelation. Podcasting is an space by which Apple at present exerts a big quantity of affect. This isn’t to say that any new Apple podcast endeavor can be a certain factor.
Why it is sensible
Back in February, I wrote about Apple’s curiously hands-off method to the podcast explosion. This is a firm that’s making an attempt to dramatically improve companies income, and is at present within the strategy of launching a new video service populated with exclusive content material to go alongside its widespread subscription music service. Its highly effective place in podcasting is a lever it can use to generate extra income progress. Along the best way, it can blunt the impression of opponents who’re spending a lot of cash making an attempt to turn into the Netflix of podcasts.
The Bloomberg report says that “Apple has yet to outline a clear strategy” right here, so it’s completely doable that not even Apple is aware of fairly what the suitable transfer is when it comes to podcasting. I hold considering that Apple merely can’t hold introducing extra subscription companies, however it retains on doing so—Apple TV+ will quickly be a part of Apple Music and Apple News+ on the entrance traces. So who’s to say that a standalone Apple Podcasts+ service isn’t in our future?
That mentioned, it does look like entry to exclusive podcasts may be higher used as an add-on to Apple Music, particularly given the truth that its largest music competitor, Spotify, is doing the identical. Apple might additionally break up the distinction and supply a standalone premium podcast subscription that’s aggressively bundled with Apple’s different media subscriptions.
The largest downside confronted by corporations constructing premium audio content material is the open nature of podcasts themselves. The podcast world is crammed with free podcasts that may be consumed in any podcast app, simply as you possibly can go to webpages in your browser of alternative. Though it’s technically doable to safe podcasts behind a consumer title and password in normal podcast purchasers, the makers of premium podcasts don’t like that idea—they need you to use their apps, despite the fact that each different podcast you’re listening to is in a utterly totally different app.
AppleiOS 12’s Podcast app.
I face this myself with The Athletic, a wonderful subscription sports activities journalism website that has an…
https://www.macworld.com/article/3409798/why-apples-big-podcasting-move-makes-senseand-might-not-work.html#tk.rss_all
