Spotify's Plan to Compete in the Podcast Space

In a recent article, I alluded to the fact that podcasts are growing quickly in popularity and revenue. Recently, popular music streaming service Spotify made a change to make it clear they were adapting to the growing trend and welcoming podcasts to their platform.

They introduced Spotify for Podcasters. An entirely new experience for podcasters that promises podcasters the ability to reach a broader audience, see relevant metrics to measure the success of a podcast and tools to help make content more accessible to listeners.

This comes after an announcement to partner with The Joe Budden Podcast for an exclusive partnership where Joe Budden and his team now have the opportunity to continue growing their brand and creating content how they see fit. Joe told Spotify "The podcast has been a great amplifier for my voice but fast growing into a platform for more and more artists to share their own personal feelings, stories, and experiences."

If you’ve updated your Spotify app recently, you may have noticed the description that follows the app has changed from ‘Spotify’ to ‘Spotify - Music and Podcasts.’

While this may seem like a minor change, it is only one small piece of a larger puzzle. Over the last few months, we’ve seen a rise in the number of podcasts available for listening/downloading on the platform. Even traditional news outlets like the New York Times and NPR each have their own news podcasts on the platform.

While the New York Times’ The Daily is only an average of 20 minutes each episode, it aims to tell ‘the biggest stories of our time’ told by ‘the best journalists in the world.’ In a society consumed with multitasking and longer commutes across urban cities, podcasts like these give listeners the information they need to know to remain informed.

A closer look at the Spotify podcasts section further supports their desire to not only compete but, dominate in the podcast space. Upon updating the app, users can tap over to the Podcasts section where they’re met with a prompt: ‘Add podcasts from another app?’

Here, users can import podcasts they enjoy from iTunes and any other podcast streaming services they use.

It’ll be interesting to see what tactics other platforms use to make sure they remain competitive and hold on to their market share. Are the days of Apple Podcast domination numbered?