Spotify on Wednesday introduced a handful of recent options designed to present podcasts a extra outstanding place in its app because it battles with Apple and YouTube to grow to be customers’ most popular podcast streaming vacation spot.
The corporate says it can start recommending podcasts on its Residence web page and supply a Following feed for staying up-to-date with the newest episodes of your favourite exhibits. Quickly, Spotify may also roll out new instruments for podcast creators to advocate content material and higher have interaction with their followers in feedback.
The modifications, whereas comparatively minor, are part of Spotify’s rising efforts to compete with Apple’s Podcasts app and YouTube. The latter has been investing extra closely in podcasts lately. This month, as an example, YouTube launched its personal weekly high podcast listing to problem Spotify and Apple. That chart highlights some main variations between the platforms by way of what YouTube’s video viewers choose to look at.
In the meantime, Spotify has additionally invested in video podcasts, permitting all creators to add video and incentivizing them with funds for profitable exhibits by its Companion Program.
Regardless of these efforts, YouTube stays the service to beat within the U.S., a minimum of, the place one-third of weekly podcast listeners choose the Google-owned service to Spotify or Apple.
Spotify says the brand new podcast suggestions on the Residence tab have already began to roll out to international customers, and early suggestions suggests it’s led to extra customers partaking with podcasts, saving, and liking exhibits.
As well as, Spotify is introducing a Following feed that may function a devoted spot the place you possibly can see all the newest episodes launched by the podcasts you comply with, as an alternative of getting to look throughout the app. (To entry this function, you’ll faucet on the Podcasts button on the high of the app, then the Following button that seems to its proper.)
Podcast creators will quickly achieve entry to a brand new function that lets them level to different content material they point out of their podcast episode that can be discovered on Spotify — together with different podcasts, songs, audiobooks, playlists, and extra. This can grow to be obtainable over the subsequent few weeks and will probably be discovered on the episode web page.
In a smaller tweak, creators who take part within the feedback of their podcast pages on the app will have the ability to use emoji reactions to reply to followers.
The corporate notes that creators are nonetheless capable of management when feedback seem or decide out of displaying them on their exhibits or episode pages by way of their Spotify for Creators account.
