Apple muscles in on subscription podcasts
To get their show featured at the top of the Apple Podcasts feed, one of the best placements in the audio world, podcasters fill out a form, send it to Apple, and hope for the best.
Last week, five of the first seven podcasts promoted on the “browse” carousel in the Apple Podcasts app were participating in Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, the program the tech company rolled out in 2021 for shows to monetize bonus episodes, segments, and other content.
This wasn’t an accident. An executive at an independent podcast told Semafor that in recent months, when they asked the company how they could be promoted in the carousel, Apple leaders suggested that the show participate in the platform’s new subscription program. Another podcast exec told Semafor that while Apple Podcasts Subscriptions wasn’t a huge moneymaker for them, it was worth participating for the benefit of the podcast feed placement.
The company’s podcast team selects various shows for inclusion in the top slots, some of which are not participants in the revenue share. But since launching Apple Podcasts Subscriptions in 2021, it has tried to funnel podcast creators and shows into the subscription service. And, as one person at Apple put it to Semafor, the company has designed the Apple Podcasts app to offer more features to shows that opt in to Apple’s subscription product, including reserving slots for them in the top carousel.
