Apple’s Bundle Grows…
Apple Podcasts+ doesn’t make sense, until it does
The report last week that Apple was thinking about launching a premium version of their podcasting service shouldn’t be a huge surprise. I mean, it is because it’s Apple, the company which birthed the movement and has repeatedly declined to take any sort of ownership of it. But this was always inevitable — certainly since Spotify started doing their thing in the space for the past couple of years.
Many folks, certainly old school podcasters, don’t like this notion because Apple has been viewed as a benevolent ruler, of sorts. A way to keep the format “open”. But the reality is far more nuanced. Apple didn’t care about monetizing podcasts because Apple didn’t think they could monetize podcasts in a way that would be meaningful to the company. And certainly not without doing advertising, which Apple doesn’t want to do.
At the same time, this left the door open for someone else — or a number of players — to step in to fill this void. In stepped Spotify. And now in steps Amazon. As such, Apple has to make a move.
As Lucas Shaw reports for Bloomberg:
Spotify has already dethroned Apple as the leader in online music, and by fusing podcasts with its music service, the company threatens to do the same in that market. Spotify has eclipsed Apple as the leading provider in many territories outside the U.S.
Amazon, a competitor to Apple in the market for smart speakers, is also increasing its investment in podcasting. The company has bankrolled original series for its audiobook arm Audible and added podcasts to its music service as well. It also agreed to acquire podcasting company Wondery last month.
Both of these are big deals. One figuratively, one literally. And Apple now likely knows the playbook it has to run:
The company recently launched Apple One subscription bundles as well, and it would make sense to make the podcasts service part of that. If it does, Apple would likely add a significant number of users automatically by charging them little or nothing.
In other words, this is the Apple News+ playbook. As a stand-alone entity, that service wasn’t interesting to most people. But as part of Apple’s bundle, sure, why not? I suspect Apple Podcasts+ will be in the same boat. As with many of the things Amazon bakes into Prime, Apple is starting to understand the value of creating the illusion of value. You’re probably not going to sign up for a premium podcast service by itself, but it’s a great deal as a part of the bundle you’re already paying for. Customer retention.
Is that a good enough reason to start paying would-be podcast partners in this hypothetical service? Not at first, but if enough people bought into the bundle, and again, enough people stay in the bundle, then perhaps. And if Apple can use the service to augment the other services — say, exclusive podcasts based around Apple TV+ content — then things start to make even more sense.
But mainly, they just can’t cede the space to Spotify and Amazon (with Google and others trying to make inroads as well). And it propels the all-important services narrative forward a bit more. And so the bundle grows…
