Apple announced the addition of an option that allows podcasts to provide the ability to participate in them for a fee, which is a turning point 15 years after the launch of its listening platform, which contributed mainly to the wide popular turnout. On the rapidly growing voice services.
The group clarified in a statement that the programs themselves will remain available free of charge, but its authors will be able to provide improved versions of them for a fee, such as the option of "listening without an advertisement, or obtaining additional content" or even the possibility of listening to "exclusive episodes or broadcast for the first time." .
And follow "Apple", by this, the trend towards sponsorship or donations, so that many of the podcasts can rely on their most loyal listeners to finance part of their production, in addition to ads.
"Now you can help your favorite podcasts to build their business model, and contribute to their creativity," said Apple President Tim Cook during an online marketing activity to announce new products.
The new feature will be available as of next May in more than 170 countries, with each podcast producer left to determine the subscription price on his blog.
In February, the giant music broadcasting network Spotify announced a similar step, abandoning the familiar podcast business model, which relies especially on advertising and free use.
This new feature allows both "Apple" and "Spotify" to attract technical sponsorship sites such as "Patreon", which is the market leader in this field, by allowing content creators to generate revenue across their platforms through advertisements or optional paid subscriptions.
In July, an annual report issued by a specialist company predicted that podcast revenue in the United States would grow by 14.7 percent for the year 2020, approaching $ 1 billion.
The podcast sector witnessed great growth during the crowd. Podcast Industry Insights reported that the number of podcasts increased in 11 months from one million to two million on the Apple Podcasts platform.
Apple Podcasts was launched 15 years ago with 3,000 posts, and millions of blogs are now available. Tim Cook confirmed that the platform has undergone a complete overhaul and will be easier to use.
