Spotify announced podcast-focused news at its Stream On event in LA this morning. The company showed off a redesigned version of its Spotify for Podcasters dashboard, which will now work to better organize its tools for creating, managing, growing, and monetizing their content in one place.
This change involves another consolidation of its Anchor podcast creation service, acquired for $154 million back in 2019. The company was seen late last year weighing if it should do away with the Anchor brand, in a survey it sent to creators. At the time, it was considering rebranding the service “Spotify Creator Studio.”
Now, Spotify says that Anchor is becoming part of Spotify for Podcasters.
As a result of this integration, the Spotify for Podcasters dashboard will become more powerful.
When creators log in to the new dashboard, they’ll be able to see data on how their show is performing and can create or upload their episodes instantly or add more features to existing episodes. They can also now add videos, Q&As or polls, or dig into analytics to see how their show is performing or learn more about listener habits. This section will also show when their podcasts are being added to playlists.
“Before now, most of these features were only available to creators hosted on Anchor,” noted “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper, who presented the features.
Spotify shared how the new Spotify for Podcasters would now become more of a one-stop-shop for creators, not only by centralizing access to all the tools Spotify offers but also by later integrating its hosting solution for enterprise publishers, Megaphone, directly into the Spotify for Podcasters product. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media were announced as two of the latest publishers.
The changes come as Spotify’s podcast strategy has been revamped, which saw an exec restructuring that has included the departures of key execs, including Dawn Ostroff, its former chief content and advertising business officer who led the company’s podcast expansion, and, more recently, Max Cutler, founder of Parcast, a company Spotify bought in 2019 for $55 million. Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg also left last year and Anchor’s co-founder Michael Mignano left last summer.
In addition to the dashboard updates, Spotify said it would also make its video podcasting features and interactive tools for podcasters more broadly available. Spotify’s interactive podcast polls and Q&As became publicly available through the Anchor creation app in 2021, reaching 160 markets.
Also announced was a new partnership with Patreon, which the company said will enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.
“Everyone benefits from this partnership,” said Spotify co-president and chief business officer Alex Norstrom. “Spotify users can listen to all their favorite content in one place, and at the same time, Patreon podcasters can increase their income and grow their audience. These tools give you the ability to choose how you monetize. We will continue to explore more options for you to build out your business.”
At the event, podcast creators Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain, Mark Fischbach, Hasan Minhaj, Bill Simmons, and others share details about their new series. Spotify and DC also said they’d launch a new podcast series focused on The Riddler.
The company offered an update on the Spotify Audience Network, its audio-first marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers, too. It said that monthly payouts to opted-in publishers have grown by nearly 50% and advertiser participation has increased by 500%. And the number of independent and enterprise podcasters using the service has grown by over 700% in the last two years. NPR is a new addition.
Podcasters are gaining another new feature today, as part of the larger revamp of the Spotify app. The company said, now, just as with music, it will include Autoplay for Podcasts. This means that when a podcast ends, another relevant episode will automatically start playing that fits the user’s tastes.