SPOTIFY AIMS TO FOCUS MORE ON PODCASTS WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY AND UNTAPPED MARKETS

In recent years, the popularity of podcasts has grown steadily. With 55% of the US listening in 2020 to at least one podcast. That, relative to the previous year, is a massive 51% rise. With sports podcasts such as ESPN on Spotify alone earning 42.7 million downloads in June 2020. Spotify intends to make it easier for more clubs and individuals to develop their own podcasts by partnering with WordPress.

Spotify is developing a process that will allow authors, such as sports bloggers, to convert their WordPress content into audio content. This transformation from written content to a podcast will be done through the podcast production platform Anchor. With 86 million monthly active Spotify users in 2020, this new approach will offer new ways of reaching a wider audience.

This could be seen as another way of providing those who wish to expand on this platform with more resources. It will encourage listening to podcasts, but also providing the opportunity for clubs and sportswriters to assess if their audience wants to listen to their content in a podcast format.

In the near future, Anchor, the maker of podcasts, will also announce new features. Producers will be able to provide videos for their podcasts, which is currently restricted to musicians. This allows listeners to see amazing clips mentioned in the podcast or even show behind-the-scenes footage of the podcast so that fans feel like they are getting exclusive footage. Spotify is also creating interactive elements such as polls and Q&A features for podcasters that use Anchor. Thus enabling great discussions among sports fans on some controversial games, creating a sense of community within the podcast.

More features are coming soon

This is just the beginning for Spotify, as they have announced fresh changes to their audio and further expansion into different markets. The next big move from Spotify is to introduce itself to over 80 markets on a global scale. With this big increase, Spotify will add 36 more languages to its app in a number of new countries. Adapted language translations and customised payment forms will be incorporated to meet the needs of these 80+ untapped markets. This equates to more than 1 billion individuals who have not yet seen what Spotify has to offer.

Spotify’s services are extending to countries across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America. With all these potential consumers, developers will have the ability to build their awareness in those untapped markets. This new growth provides more possibilities for Spotify and developers as Spotify seeks to increase the success of podcasts in the future. Owing to the success of social audio-focused apps such as Clubhouse, it is clear that audio is an important aspect of future apps. Podcasts might provide an important opportunity for Spotify in this respect.

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