On April 20, Apple announced various new devices and services. Within the services section, he presented the podcast subscription platform, a platform that will go live in May that will allow content publishers to sell subscriptions to an individual program or to a group of programs.
It will be the publishers themselves who will set the prices starting at 49 cents per month, however, Apple will keep 30% of revenue during the first year, a fee which will be reduced to 15% after the first year, applying the same operation as in the other types of subscriptions.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Spotify will announce its podcast subscription platform next week, with a very similar operation to that offered by Apple, however, Spotify will not keep any commission for content offered through this format, beyond the commission that may be charged by the platform used by users to make payments.
If this news is finally confirmed, will pose a dilemma for publishers and content creators who want to monetize their content on Apple devices. Apple’s Podcasters program is priced at $ 19.99 per year and promises streamlined distribution through the Podcast app, an app installed natively on all iOS devices.
On the other hand, we find Spotify, with a much larger user base, which is also available in the iOS ecosystem and in recent years has focused heavily on creating original content and has purchased podcast companies such as Gimlet Media, Parcast and Anchor in addition to acquiring the exclusive rights to the podcast Joe Rogan Experience.
It will be interesting to see how the Spotify subscription services work. It’s more than likely that it also comes with an annual fee like Apple does, as well as a limitation or exclusivity that doesn’t allow you to publish your podcasts on other platforms. Keep in mind that Spotify is not an NGO and you need to somehow monetize your bet on podcasts.
