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The Battle for Your Ears
Big market caps come with big expectations. To fulfill these, large tech companies are entering new markets in search of growth. Like a group of concentric circles radiating outward, they’re bumping into each other. Podcasting is a recent flashpoint.
A Podcast a Day Doesn’t Keep Spotify Away
With iTunes and the iPod, Apple helped popularize podcasts. It hasn’t innovated much on them since. This created an opening for Spotify to aggressively enter the market. For Spotify, podcasting represents a key component of its growth strategy and a business model salve. eMarketer, an industry research firm, forecasts that it will eclipse Apple in US podcast market share for the first time this year.
On April 20th, Apple fired back, announcing Premium Podcasts at its Spring Loaded event. Premium Podcasts enable creators to launch paid subscriptions through Apple’s Podcast app, either freemium (listen for free, pay for additional benefits) or fully paid (fans must pay to listen).
Apple seeded Premium Podcasts with keystone studios like Luminary, NPR, Pushkin Industries, and The Athletic. In May, creators who join the Apple Podcasters Program (and pay $19.99 per year), which provides analytics and subscription management tools, can start monetizing their podcasts. Content creators set their own price, which is…
