Issue 27  May 2nd 2021

Spotify Launches Podcast Subscriptions

Spotify is letting podcasters on its platform offer subscriptions to their shows. The new subscription feature is powered through Anchor, its creator platform. That will allow podcasters to mark episodes as subscriber-only and put them on Spotify and other platforms. The company takes no cut of revenue at first, but in 2023, Spotify will begin taking a 5 percent cut of total subscription revenue, which is significantly less than Apple will charge.

SiriusXM Acquires Roman Mars' 99% Invisible Podcast

Roman Mars' 99% Invisible podcast will become part of Stitcher, the podcast company SiriusXM acquired last year. The 99% Invisible podcast will be available broadly and across SiriusXM's multiple audio streaming services, including the Stitcher,. Pandora, and SiriusXM apps. The acquisition brings the acclaimed podcast host and his team to SiriusXM, where they will continue to operate the podcast What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law, and develop new podcast projects.

Sounder Launches Sounder Plus

Podcast platform Sounder has expanded its offering with the launch of Sounder Plus. Sounder Plus helps creators automate content distribution, transform audio content into readily shareable videos, optimize audience growth through AI-powered recommendations, collaborate with a team up to five, and authentically brand their content. New features include automated episode distribution to YouTube, video clips for episode promotion, and AI-generated keyword suggestions to improve audio SEO.

Facebook Introduces A New Miniplayer That Streams Spotify From The Facebook app

Facebook and Spotify are rolling out a new integration that lets users stream music directly from the Facebook app. The integration will be available to both free Spotify users and Premium subscribers. The miniplayer feature is an extension of the social sharing option already supported within Spotify’s app.

The partnership allows Spotify to leverage Facebook's reach to gain distribution and to drive both sign-ups and repeat usage of its app just as the COVID bump to subscriber growth may be wearing off.

Acast Launches 'Sponsored Stories' Podcast Advertising Offering

Acast's latest new podcast advertising offering in its Acast Marketplace is Sponsored Stories, an option for sponsors to buy longer spots from 90 seconds to 4 minutes, dynamically inserted into podcast episodes across a show's entire back catalog.

Sponsored Stories gives brands and podcasters more space to be creative and to do something a little different to the traditional sponsorship read while at the same time creating an even more immersive experience for the listener.