Photo credit: TechCrunch / Stream on
In addition to news related to the overhaul of its mobile app and the launch of TikTok-style music and podcast discovery feeds, Spotify also announced podcast-focused news at its Stream On event in LA this morning. The company showed off a revamped version of its Spotify for Podcasters dashboard, which will now work to better organize its tools for creating, managing, growing, and monetizing their content in one place.
This change includes further consolidation of its anchor podcast creation service, which it acquired in 2019 for $154 million. The company was seen in a poll late last year weighing up whether to scrap the Anchor brand. At that time, it was considered renaming the service “Spotify Creator Studio”.
Now Spotify says Anchor will be part of Spotify for Podcasters.
As a result of this integration, Spotify’s dashboard becomes more powerful for podcasters.
When creators log into the new dashboard, they can see data on their show’s performance and instantly create or upload their episodes, or add more features to existing episodes. They can now also add videos, Q&A, polls, or engage in analytics to see how their show is performing, or learn more about listening habits. This section also shows when their podcasts are added to playlists.
“Previously, most of these features were only available to creators hosted on Anchor,” noted Alex Cooper, host of the Call Her Daddy podcast, who introduced the features.
Photo credit: TechCrunch / Stream on
At today’s event, Spotify shared how the new Spotify for Podcasters would now become more of a one-stop shop for developers, not only by centralizing access to all the tools Spotify offers, but also by eventually integrating its hosting solution for corporate publisher. Megaphone, directly into the Spotify for Podcasters product. Australia’s Netflix and Schwartz Media have been announced as two of the newest publishers.
Photo credit: TechCrunch / Stream on
The changes come as Spotify’s podcast strategy was overhauled, leading to an executive reshuffle that included the departure of key executives, including Dawn Ostroff, the former chief content and advertising business officer who led the company’s podcast expansion , and more recently Max Cutler, founder of Parcast, a company Spotify bought for $55 million in 2019. Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg also left the company last year, and Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano left the company last summer.
In addition to the dashboard updates, Spotify said it would also make its video podcasting capabilities and interactive tools more widely available to podcasters. Spotify’s interactive podcast polls and Q&A became public via the Anchor Creation app in 2021, reaching 160 markets.
Another piece of interesting news was the announcement of a new partnership with Patreon, which the company says will allow developers to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.
Photo credit: TechCrunch / Stream on
“Everyone benefits from this partnership,” said Alex Norstrom, Spotify’s co-president and chief business officer. “Spotify users can listen to all of their favorite content in one place, while allowing Patreon podcasters to grow their income and audience. These tools give you the power to choose how you make money. We will continue to explore other options for you to grow your business.”
At the event, podcast creators Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain, Mark Fischbach, Hasan Minhaj, Bill Simmons and others share details about their new series. Spotify and DC also said they would be launching a new podcast series focused on The Riddler.
The company offered an update on Spotify Audience Network, its audio-first marketplace that also connects podcast publishers and independent writers with advertisers. It says monthly payouts to opt-in publishers are up nearly 50% and advertiser participation is up 500%. And the number of independent and corporate podcasters using the service has grown by over 700% in the last two years. A new addition is NPR.
Podcasters are getting another new feature today as part of the major overhaul of the Spotify app. The company said it will now include autoplay for podcasts, just like with music. This means that after a podcast ends, another relevant episode that suits the user’s tastes will automatically play.
The new Spotify for podcasters is now live.