Calling all podcasters: Spotify is testing a new program that aims to significantly increase the number of podcasts it offers.
The new program — aptly titled “Spotify for Podcasters” — will let podcasters “easily” share their feeds with Spotify and reach its 180 million users, the Stockholm-based company said in a Wednesday blog post. “For podcasters who run active podcasts and continue to publish episodes, new episodes will instantly be added to Spotify as soon as podcasters upload them to their host or aggregator,” the company said.
Spotify hopes to lure in more podcasts by offering several audience measurement tools — including stats on listener demographics, listener locations, and engagement.
While already grappling with Apple on the music battlefield, Spotify has increasingly looked to stake its claim to the growing podcast industry. Spotify started its push into original podcasts last year and recently launched its first branded original podcast series.
It makes sense why Spotify is doubling down on podcasts: U.S. podcasts pulled in $314 million in revenue in 2017, an 86 percent increase from the previous year. That’s bolstered by podcasts continuing to grow in popularity, with 17 percent of Americans 12 and older listening to a podcast on a weekly basis — up from 7 percent in 2013 — according to Pew Research Center.