Apple Podcasts, as soon as the dominant platform for podcast listening, is experiencing a major decline in reputation as rivals like YouTube and Spotify achieve floor, based on a latest examine by Cumulus Media and Sign Hill Insights.
“Podcast” is a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcast,” indicating the format’s indebtedness to Apple. Nonetheless, the examine reveals that the podcast panorama has modified dramatically for the reason that firm first popularized the medium in 2005 with the discharge of iTunes 4.9. YouTube is now the preferred platform for podcast consumption in the USA, with 31% of respondents reporting it as their main selection. Spotify follows at 21%, whereas Apple Podcasts has dropped to 3rd place with solely 12% of the market share.
That is in stark distinction to Apple’s place just some years in the past. In July 2019, 29% of weekly podcast listeners primarily used Apple Podcasts. A number of components look like contributing to Apple Podcasts’ waning reputation. Apple Podcasts did not generate direct income for the corporate till not too long ago, when in 2021 it launched podcast subscriptions, of which Apple takes a reduce.
Moreover, Apple Podcasts was traditionally not out there on Android or Home windows units, limiting its attain, though the launch earlier this week of an Apple Podcasts internet app could go some option to mitigate this difficulty.
The rising reputation of video podcasts has additionally given platforms like YouTube a major benefit, whereas Apple Podcasts has proven no willingness to push video in any respect. Certainly, it is unclear whether or not the corporate is engaged on any main updates or options to compete extra successfully with the extra visible tackle the medium provided by YouTube and Spotify.
Regardless of the decline, Apple Podcasts nonetheless has the benefit of coming pre-installed on all Apple units, giving it a big potential person base. Nonetheless, Apple could have to rethink its technique by emphasizing video podcast content material, including extra monetization choices for podcasters, and attracting new and youthful listeners to the platform.
In iOS 18, Apple’s Podcasts app now exhibits chapter segments of a podcast once you scrub by way of a at the moment taking part in episode, making it simpler to flick through the audio content material, however there are not any main new podcast options within the newest model of Apple’s cellular working system.