Spotify takes aim at YouTube in battle for podcasts: WSJ

NEW YORK, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) — As fans increasingly flock to videos of star hosts interacting with their guests during interviews, Swedish audio streaming and media service provider Spotify wants to persuade more podcasters to make videos for its own platform in addition to U.S. streaming giant YouTube, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Wednesday.
Spotify plans to start paying hosts who make popular videos and meet a certain viewing threshold, and will soon offer premium subscribers a way to watch shows such as “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain” without ads. It currently allows hosts to upload podcast videos, but doesn’t offer such payments.
While Spotify is home to some of the most listened-to podcasts, there are signs that its dominance in the exploding medium is waning as more listeners watch, or listen to, their favorite shows on YouTube. The Google-owned platform has become a central part of many young people’s entertainment diet and shares ad revenue with creators who post videos, which incentivizes them to post ever more content.
Beginning in January, Spotify plans to offer premium subscribers in the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada ad-free viewing of video podcasts.
“It is betting that the uninterrupted experience coupled with its powerful discovery algorithms will drive greater consumption of video podcasts on the platform,” said WSJ. “The offering, which takes out ads inserted into episodes but would leave host-read messages, could also differentiate Spotify’s podcast videos from those on YouTube, where users have to pay more for ad-free viewing.” ■