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Spotify made a gamble that having some headline Podcasters would build the listener market. Podcasters release regularly and have a different potential for bec

Spotify made a gamble that having some headline Podcasters would build the listener market. Podcasters release regularly and have a different potential for becoming viral compared to musicians so it's a valid commercial decision to make. Seems like their headline gambles didn't work but googling suggests that the podcast listener market increased 10% in the last year so I think they'll probably try again.

danpalmer 3y ago
Anecdotally, most of the podcasts I listen to advertise as being on Spotify, especially the ones that skew towards a more mainstream audience. I think Spotify's podcast play has largely worked to gain the mindshare, it's really just them and Apple Podcasts. I suspect this means that Spotify subscribers are listening to plenty of podcasts, but perhaps podcasts failed to bring new listeners into Spotify.
cupofjoakim 3y ago
For what it's worth Spotify is the most popular podcast platform in the US, with 25% of the userbase: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/podcast-listeners#podcast-platform-usage https://explodingtopics.com/blog/podcast-listeners#podcast-p... I'd say that gamble in particular worked. Not so sure others will though, audio books feels like it will be a dud.
- sdenton4 3y ago
  25% market share is a bit lackluster, though? Podcasting has also been called the slowest growing new medium in the history of new media. I can't imagine it's earning its keep, relative to those big initial payouts. Meanwhile, the shows that are brought into subscription-only world systematically fail to attract new listeners; it is hard to use podcast exclusives to grow market share. Especially the talking head variety, which exist in abundance outside the pay wall.
  - cupofjoakim 3y ago
    I both agree and disagree with you here. The expectation of the podcasting business to be full of great opportunities and monetary gain was (probably) misguided, but 25% market share in an established market in just a couple of years when there were big players holding a majority share is still a huge feat. Will it pay off? Probably not. But is 25% a big share? Yes.
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      Apple Music (Jun 2015) and Google Play Music (Nov 2011) launched after Spotify (Jul 2011 in the US). I think the 4 year delay by Apple is what allowed Spotify to become so popular in the first place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify The problem for Spotify is that they need a far bigger share of the market to be able to have negotiating power against the 3 record labels that they have to buy the music from. Apple/Alphabet/Amazon do not care as much because re-selling the music at cost or even as a loss leader is not a big deal to them.
      - SahAssar 3y ago
        This whole subthread is about podcasts, and in that space apple was pretty early (2005 in itunes, 2012 as a standalone app) and spotify was very late.
        lotsofpulp 3y ago
        Oops, I missed that distinction. Thanks for correction.
  - badcppdev 3y ago
    Apple and Google have 20% and 16% respectively. Considering the amazing platform boost that those two giants have I think 25% is very impressive. But I agree that podcastings growth has been very slow. I think that there are a lot of factors influencing that. The biggest in my opinion is that listening to a podcast is more intimate than any other media (including broadcast radio) and that factor both slows uptake and decreases churn. Not a marketer though so just making that up.

danpalmer 3y ago

Anecdotally, most of the podcasts I listen to advertise as being on Spotify, especially the ones that skew towards a more mainstream audience. I think Spotify's podcast play has largely worked to gain the mindshare, it's really just them and Apple Podcasts. I suspect this means that Spotify subscribers are listening to plenty of podcasts, but perhaps podcasts failed to bring new listeners into Spotify.

cupofjoakim 3y ago

For what it's worth Spotify is the most popular podcast platform in the US, with 25% of the userbase: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/podcast-listeners#podcast-platform-usage https://explodingtopics.com/blog/podcast-listeners#podcast-p... I'd say that gamble in particular worked. Not so sure others will though, audio books feels like it will be a dud.

sdenton4 3y ago
25% market share is a bit lackluster, though? Podcasting has also been called the slowest growing new medium in the history of new media. I can't imagine it's earning its keep, relative to those big initial payouts. Meanwhile, the shows that are brought into subscription-only world systematically fail to attract new listeners; it is hard to use podcast exclusives to grow market share. Especially the talking head variety, which exist in abundance outside the pay wall.
- cupofjoakim 3y ago
  I both agree and disagree with you here. The expectation of the podcasting business to be full of great opportunities and monetary gain was (probably) misguided, but 25% market share in an established market in just a couple of years when there were big players holding a majority share is still a huge feat. Will it pay off? Probably not. But is 25% a big share? Yes.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Apple Music (Jun 2015) and Google Play Music (Nov 2011) launched after Spotify (Jul 2011 in the US). I think the 4 year delay by Apple is what allowed Spotify to become so popular in the first place. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify The problem for Spotify is that they need a far bigger share of the market to be able to have negotiating power against the 3 record labels that they have to buy the music from. Apple/Alphabet/Amazon do not care as much because re-selling the music at cost or even as a loss leader is not a big deal to them.
    - SahAssar 3y ago
      This whole subthread is about podcasts, and in that space apple was pretty early (2005 in itunes, 2012 as a standalone app) and spotify was very late.
      - lotsofpulp 3y ago
        Oops, I missed that distinction. Thanks for correction.
- badcppdev 3y ago
  Apple and Google have 20% and 16% respectively. Considering the amazing platform boost that those two giants have I think 25% is very impressive. But I agree that podcastings growth has been very slow. I think that there are a lot of factors influencing that. The biggest in my opinion is that listening to a podcast is more intimate than any other media (including broadcast radio) and that factor both slows uptake and decreases churn. Not a marketer though so just making that up.