Spotify plans to add a subscription plan, aside from Spotify Premium, just for podcasts, as the company goes all-in on podcasts anew.
If you didn’t notice before, Spotify is going all-in on podcasts. The company might even offer subscriptions to podcasts alone. You can get a monthly plan to listen to original shows or exclusive episodes. Moreover, this new service is not Spotify Premium. This new plan requires a separate fee.
Spotify Podcasts
Gizmodo reports that Spotify may want to put podcasts behind a paywall after spending over $600 million on them. Right now, you can listen to these podcasts for free, even without a Premium account. Without a Premium plan, you’ll just get ads.
Looks like Spotify is toying with the idea of launching a subscription package just for its podcast content. https://t.co/TbaujT5uqr pic.twitter.com/7xRtcLS7ct
— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) November 9, 2020
This week, Andrew Wallenstein of Variety tweeted that Spotify shared a survey to selected users. This survey asked the users if they were willing to shell out $3 to $8 a month for podcasts.
New Subscription Formats
According to the survey, the cheapest plan would still give you ads, but you’ll also get exclusive interviews and episodes. Meanwhile, the priciest plan will remove the ads. You’ll also get early access to some exclusive and “high quality original content.”
On the other hand, these costs don’t cover Spotify’s music streaming service. Spotify Premium would add $10 to your podcast subscription.
Should I Prepare My Wallet?
However, these surveys do not mean that Spotify will implement these changes at all. These surveys only mean to gauge users’ opinions on proposed changes. These changes would make sense for Spotify, though. The company had aggressively pushed into the podcast market in recent years.
Spotify had already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to snag major podcasts. These shows include The Ringer, the Joe Rogan Experience, and the Gimlet and Anchor networks.
