What are the new features?

Paid Subscriptions:

Through podcast creation platform Anchor, Spotify will introduce in coming months the ability for creators to sell subscriptions in exchange for bonus episodes and other exclusive content making it seamless for listeners to support their work.

Video content:

In the coming months, Anchor and Spotify will enable more podcast creators to add videos to their podcasts. This functionality is currently available to music artists.

Q&As:

Anchor and Spotify are now making it easier for podcast listeners to join in on the conversation with the addition of a Q&A feature.

Polls:

Podacsters will be able to easily poll their listeners with the upcoming polls feature. Designed to see what is on the listeners mind and research for future podcasts.

Written Content;

A new tool for Spotify was developed by Anchor and Wordpress, it allows bloggers to publish their written content as a podcast, and podcasters to create written content for their websites.

Why is Spotify doing this now?

Spotify is looking to make podcasts a bigger focus of its app moving forward. With the rising popularity of audio based social media apps such as Clubhouse, it's clear that audio connection has a place in the modern digital landscape.

Also, during the pandemic there has been a significant rise in popularity of podcasts, from both a listener and creator standpoint. The number of new podcasts launched in 2020 almost tripled worldwide while more than one third of the Irish population experimented with new ways of listening to music, digital radio or podcasts in the last year due to the change of daily routines, research by marketing group Core has found.

38 percent of the 1,000 adults surveyed stated they have tried at least one audio streaming service for the first time since the beginning of Covid-19 restrictions.