Spotify has inked an agreement to promote podcasts in its app and on bus ads, in exchange for the hosts of those podcasts publicizing Spotify on social media and during their shows. “Reply All,” “Pod Save America” and “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” which cover a range of topics from sports to politics, are the three podcasts that have signed on. With this agreement, Spotify is experimenting with putting resources into programming other than music. Apple currently is the leader in podcast subscriptions. Continue reading Spotify Turns to Podcasts to Expand Content, Boost Ad Sales

Some podcasts are experimenting with paid subscriptions rather than advertising as the way to generate revenue. Swedish-based podcast app and ad network Acast unveiled a service, Acast+, to enable that, taking a share of the revenue for letting podcast creators set their own prices and sell content directly to listeners without ads. Although current podcasts use the platform to hawk exclusive bonus content, Acast’s plan is to entice social media stars and celebrities to create new podcasts for their fans. Continue reading Podcast Companies Try Out Subscription Model to Replace Ads

Podcasts have some unique challenges in attracting new listeners, since there is no universal method for sharing audio files on social media and distribution has been mainly limited to the Apple Podcasts app. However, podcasts like “Serial” are trying to change that by producing more multimedia content to make it easier to share on a wider variety of social media and spread the word about the show. Other brands, like Google Play and Pandora, are jumping into podcast distribution with new apps and products. Continue reading Podcast Experiments with Sharing Related Multimedia Content