Major updates to Apple Podcasts make discovering and enjoying
podcasts better than ever before
Apple® today unveiled Apple Podcasts® Subscriptions, a global
marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered
by their favorite creators alongside millions of free shows on
Apple Podcasts.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210420006006/en/
Apple Podcasts Subscriptions is a global
marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered
by their favorite creators, including The Athletic and NPR. The
Midnight Miracle, the groundbreaking new original series hosted by
Talib Kweli, Yasiin Bey, and Dave Chappelle, will be available next
month with a subscription to the Luminary channel on Apple
Podcasts. (Photo: Business Wire)
Starting in May, listeners in more than 170 countries and
regions can sign up for premium subscriptions that include a
variety of benefits curated by creators, such as ad-free listening,
access to additional content, and early or exclusive access to new
series. Listeners will be able to enjoy premium subscriptions from
independent voices and premier studios, including Tenderfoot TV,
Pushkin Industries, Radiotopia from PRX, and QCODE, to leading
media and entertainment brands, including NPR, the Los Angeles
Times, The Athletic, Sony Music Entertainment, and many more.
“Fifteen years ago, Apple took podcasts mainstream, offering
creators a premier, open platform to inform, entertain, and inspire
hundreds of millions of listeners around the world,” said Eddy Cue,
Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.
“Today, Apple Podcasts is the best place for listeners to discover
and enjoy millions of great shows, and we are proud to lead the
next chapter of podcasting with Apple Podcasts Subscriptions. We’re
excited to introduce this powerful new platform to creators around
the world, and we can’t wait to hear what they make with it.”
Also next month, listeners will be able to discover channels,
which are groups of shows curated by creators with unique titles,
descriptions, and artwork. Just as they can with shows, listeners
will be able to browse free channels, which make it easy to find
more shows from their favorite creators, as well as paid channels
and channels that provide additional benefits for subscribers.
With iOS 14.5, listeners can access a redesigned Apple Podcasts
app featuring an enhanced Search tab that provides quick access to
Top Charts and categories. Apple Podcasts also features beautiful
new pages for every show and episode to make it easier to follow,
listen, and share. The new Smart Play button helps listeners
automatically start episodic shows from the latest episode and
serialized shows from the beginning of each series. Listeners can
also now save individual episodes, which are downloaded for offline
playback, making it easy to bookmark podcasts to listen to later
from Library.
The new Apple Podcasts for Creators website helps creators learn
more about podcasting, stay informed about the latest news and
features, and explore in-depth guides with best practices. Starting
today, all creators can access an updated Apple Podcasts Connect
dashboard, which has new features that make it easier to manage
shows on Apple Podcasts, including the ability to edit metadata,
schedule and manage show availability, organize shows into
channels, manage multiple users and roles, and learn how listeners
are engaging with their shows through new performance metrics and
visualization tools. From Apple Podcasts Connect, creators can
enroll in the new Apple Podcasters Program, which provides access
to all the tools needed to build and distribute premium
subscriptions on Apple Podcasts.
Creators Share Their Enthusiasm for the Next Chapter of
Podcasting with Apple Podcasts Subscriptions
Podcasts have made it possible for creators to share their
voices with listeners around the world. Apple Podcasts
Subscriptions takes this unique relationship to the next level by
offering creators a way to tighten the bond with their most engaged
listeners:
Martina Abrahams Ilunga, CEO and chief editor of You Had Me
at Black: “As an independent show that started five years ago,
we’ve always been powered by our community. And our community is
hungry for more! More stories and more episodes — sooner. Apple
Podcasts Subscriptions empowers us to deliver that. With our
subscription, listeners can hear new seasons and episodes first,
before anyone else, while also supporting our growth and
sustainability.”
Donald Albright, president and co-founder of Tenderfoot
TV: “With TenderfootPlus+, we’re able to provide our listening
community with even more of what they want — exclusive,
early-access, and ad-free listening for our tentpole titles and new
shows. Launching this subscription on Apple Podcasts, where the
large majority of our listeners engages with us each week, makes it
easy for the Tenderfoot audience to seamlessly upgrade to the best
experience.”
Alex Mather, founder and CEO of The Athletic: “Our team
loves bringing deeply immersive storytelling to maniacal sports
fans around the world, and our listeners tune in to over a million
hours of sports news, analysis, and storytelling each week. We know
true sports fans are always looking for stories about their clubs
and teams told through a new lens, and with Apple Podcasts
Subscriptions, we can deliver even more great stories in an all-new
way, ad free, directly through Apple Podcasts.”
Podcasts have also become an important way to understand what’s
happening in the world. Listeners turn to podcasts to make sense of
major moments in news and culture. With Apple Podcasts
Subscriptions, listeners gain a simple and intuitive way to support
quality programming from newspapers, magazines, digital publishers,
local radio stations, and more, directly from Apple Podcasts:
John F. Lansing, president and CEO of NPR: “Apple has
been a valued partner to our podcasting work since it all started
back in 2005, and we support their plan to enable a new revenue
source for content creators on their platform. Apple Podcasts
Subscriptions will provide another opportunity for listeners to
support their favorite podcasters at NPR and our Member stations in
our mission to create a more informed public.”
Chris Argentieri, president and chief operating officer of
the Los Angeles Times: “Subscriptions have always been an
important source of support for our business, and podcasting has
established itself as a powerful medium for large audiences to
engage with our brand of journalism and storytelling. The ability
to marry the two with Apple Podcasts Subscriptions will allow us to
expand our audio offerings to cover new formats, stories,
communities, and more.”
Stefan Ottlitz, co-CEO and head of Product for Der Spiegel,
one of the top news publishers in Germany: “Audio is a uniquely
powerful medium that provides Der Spiegel an opportunity to deeply
engage audiences so they can form a meaningful relationship with
our brand. We’re pleased to see this significant investment in
podcasting from Apple, which will open doors to new, long-term
revenue opportunities that will further empower us to pursue even
more ambitious independent audio journalism.”
With Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, the freedom to develop and
enjoy entirely new audio storytelling experiences will redefine
podcasting in ways that are surprising and gratifying for creators
and listeners alike:
Maggie McGuire, CEO of Pinna, an on-demand audio
entertainment service for kids: “Apple Podcasts Subscriptions
empowers Pinna to deliver the very best storytelling for kids and
their families. Our ad-free subscriptions will feature a collection
of award-winning original series, including action adventures,
mysteries, comedies, game shows, musicals, and much more. We
couldn’t be more excited to connect kids around the globe with
their next favorite podcast.”
Dennis Kooker, president of Global Digital Business and US
Sales at Sony Music Entertainment: “Apple is putting creators
first with their approach to the subscription model. Offering
subscriptions provides new flexibility and options for consumers,
and is an important addition to helping creators better monetize
their works. All of this will lead to more investment and even
better shows for podcast fans.”
Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg, co-founders of Pushkin
Industries: “Podcasting totally changed my approach to
storytelling, and Apple Podcasts Subscriptions is a mind shift,”
said Gladwell, who also hosts Revisionist History. “Our producers
and I have so many ideas that don’t fit into existing models but
will now have an outlet. This is a big step forward in the
evolution of the audio content business, and we are excited about
it.” Added Weisberg, “Podcasting exists, and thrives, today because
of Apple. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions will help us connect more
deeply with our listeners and build a healthy business. We strongly
believe that paid subscriptions are what independent creators like
us need to succeed and thrive over the long term, and we’re
thrilled that Apple is taking the lead.”
Pricing and Availability
- Apple Podcasts Subscriptions will be available to listeners in
over 170 countries and regions in May. Specific software
requirements for Apple Podcasts Subscriptions and channels will be
shared ahead of availability.
- Pricing for each subscription is set by creators and billed
monthly by default. Creators can additionally offer annual billing,
which subscribers can manage from their Apple ID account settings,
now accessible from Listen Now. Listeners will also be able to
access free trials and sample episodes offered by creators.
- Through Family Sharing, up to six family members can share a
subscription.
- Listeners will be able to access the enhanced Search tab with
Top Charts and categories, new show and episode pages with the
Smart Play button, and Saved Episodes on iOS 14.5, iPadOS® 14.5,
and macOS® 11.3. Saved Episodes are also available on watchOS® 7.4
and tvOS® 14.5. These software updates will be available next
week.
- The Apple Podcasters Program, which includes all of the tools
needed to offer premium subscriptions on Apple Podcasts, is
available to creators in over 170 countries and regions for
$19.99 (US) per year. Creators can enroll in the Apple
Podcasters Program today through Apple Podcasts Connect.
- Apple Podcasts features more than 2 million free shows and is
available for free on iPhone®, iPad®, iPod touch®, Mac®, Apple
Watch®, Apple TV®, HomePod mini®, CarPlay®, iTunes® on Windows, and
other smart speakers and car systems.
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction
of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in
innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.
Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and
tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and
empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store,
Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000
employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and
to leaving the world better than we found it.
NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple Newsroom
(www.apple.com/newsroom), or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408)
974-2042.
© 2021 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo,
Apple Podcasts, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, iPhone, iPad, iPod
touch, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod mini, CarPlay, and
iTunes are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may
be trademarks of their respective owners.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210420006006/en/
Zach Kahn Apple zkahn@apple.com (669) 276-2811
Apple Media Helpline media.help@apple.com (408) 974-2042
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