Spotify revamps its podcasting tools, including Anchor, and partners with Patreon

Image sources: TechCrunch / Stream On

In addition to news about revamping its mobile app and introducing TikTok-style music and podcast discovery feeds, Spotify also announced podcast-focused news at its Stream On event in Los Angeles. The company unveiled a redesigned version of its Spotify for Podcasters dashboard, which now better organizes the tools needed to create, manage, grow and monetize their content in one place.

This change includes another consolidation of podcast creation service Anchor, acquired in 2019 for $154 million. According to a survey sent to creators, the company considered whether to abandon the Anchor brand at the end of last year. At the time, the service was considering changing its name to “Spotify Creator Studio”.

Spotify now says that Anchor will become part of Spotify for Podcasters.

As a result of the integration, the Spotify for Podcasters dashboard becomes more powerful.

When creators log into the new dashboard, they can see their show’s performance data and instantly create or upload their episodes, or add additional features to existing episodes. Now they can add videos, Q&As or polls, or dive into analytics to see how their show is doing or learn more about listener habits. This section also shows when they add their podcasts to playlists.

“Previously, most of these features were only available to creators on Anchor,” noted Alex Cooper, host of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, who introduced the features.

Image sources: TechCrunch / Stream On

At today’s event, Spotify shared that the new Spotify for Podcasters will now be more of a one-stop shop for creators, not only by centralizing access to all the tools Spotify offers, but also by later integrating a hosting solution for enterprise publishers. Megaphone, directly into Spotify for Podcasters. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media are among the latest publishers.

Image sources: TechCrunch / Stream On

The changes come amid a revamp of Spotify’s podcast strategy, which has seen an executive shake-up that saw the departure of key executives, including Dawn Ostroff, the company’s former head of content and advertising, who led the company’s podcast expansion, and recently Max .Cutler, founder of Parcast, the company Spotify bought in 2019 for $55 million. Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg also left last year, and Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano last summer.

In addition to the dashboard updates, Spotify said it will make its video podcast services and interactive tools more widely available to podcasters. Spotify’s interactive podcast polls and Q&As went public in 2021 via the Anchor Creation app, reaching 160 markets.

Another interesting piece of news was the announcement of a new partnership with Patreon, which the company says will allow creators to grow their creative business through direct payments from fans and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.

Image sources: TechCrunch / Stream On

“Everybody benefits from this partnership,” said Spotify co-president and chief business officer Alex Norstrom. “Spotify users can listens to all theirs favourite content in one place and at the same time, Patreon podcasters can growth theirs income and woman theirs audience. Thcase tools give you the ability to choose how you earn money. We will continue to discover more opportunities for you to build Who your business.”

At the event, podcast creators Alex Cooper, Emma Chamberlain, Mark Fischbach, Hasan Minhaj, Bill Simmons and more will share details about their new series. Spotify and DC also announced a new podcast series centered around The Riddler.

The company offered an update to the Spotify Audience Network, the first audio marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers. He said monthly payouts for subscribed publishers increased by nearly 50% and advertiser engagement increased by 500%. And the number of independent and corporate podcasters using the service has grown by more than 700% in the past two years. NPR is a new addition.

Podcasters are getting more news today as part of a larger revamp of the Spotify app. The company said it will now include Autoplay for Podcasts, just as it does for music. This means that when a podcast ends, another relevant episode that suits the user’s taste will automatically start playing.

The new Spotify for Podcasters is now available.