In addition to news related to its mobile app revamp and the introduction of TikTok-esque music and podcast discovery feeds, Spotify announced podcast-focused news this morning at its Stream On event in LA. The company showed off a redesigned version of its Spotify for Podcasters dashboard, which will now work to better organize its create, manage, grow and monetize tools in one place.
This change includes a new consolidation of the Anchor podcast creation service, which was acquired in 2019 for $154 million. At the end of last year, the company weighed whether to do away with the Anchor brand in a survey it sent to makers. At the time, it was considering renaming the service “Spotify Creator Studio”.
Now Spotify says Anchor will become part of Spotify for Podcasters.
As a result of this integration, Spotify’s Dashboard for Podcasters becomes more powerful.
When creators log in to the new dashboard, they can see data on how their show is performing and create or upload their episodes instantly or add more features to existing episodes. They can also now add videos, Q&As or polls, or dive into 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,” said Alex Cooper, “Call Her Daddy” podcast host, who presented the features.
Image Credits: AapkaDost / Stream on
At today’s event, Spotify shared how the new Spotify for Podcasters would now become more of a one-stop-shop for creators, not only centralizing access to all the tools Spotify offers, but also later becoming the hosting solution for corporate publishers. integrate. Megaphone, directly in the Spotify for Podcasters product. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media have been announced as two of the newest publishers.
Image Credits: AapkaDost / Stream on
The changes come as Spotify’s podcast strategy has been revamped, which saw a management restructuring 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 that bought Spotify in 2019 for $55 million. Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg also left last year and Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano left last summer.
In addition to the dashboard updates, Spotify said it would also make its video podcasting features and interactive tools for podcasters more widely available. Spotify’s interactive podcast polls and Q&As became publicly available in 2021 through the Anchor authoring app, reaching 160 markets.
Another interesting piece of news was the announcement of a new partnership with Patreon, which the company said will enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to access their Patreon content. to listen on Spotify.
Image Credits: AapkaDost / Stream on
“Everyone advantages by this partnership,” said Spotify co-president and chief business officer Alex Norstrom. “Spotify users can listen Unpleasant all their favorite contents in An places bee the the same time, cartridge podcasters can increase their income And to grow their audience. Ethis tools to give you the skill Unpleasant to elect How you to make money We shall Get on Unpleasant to discover more options for you Unpleasant to build out your company.”
At the event, podcast creators Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain, Mark Fischbach, Hasan Minhaj, Bill Simmons and others will 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 the Spotify Audience Network, the audio-first marketplace that also connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers. It said monthly payouts to opted-in publishers are up nearly 50% and advertiser participation is up 500%. And the number of independent and business podcasters using the service has grown more than 700% in the past two years. NPR is a new addition.
Podcasters are getting a new feature today, as part of the larger Spotify app refresh. The company said that as with music, it will now include Autoplay for Podcasts. This means that when a podcast ends, it automatically starts playing another relevant episode that suits the user’s taste.
The new Spotify for Podcasters is now live.