Audible Expands into Podcasts - Latest News

Audible, the audiobook service owned by Amazon, is significantly growing its presence in the podcasting world by adding roughly 100,000 podcasts – a total of 5 million episodes – to its platform. Audible states that these shows will be available for complimentary streaming to both its subscribers and those who do not have a membership.

The newly available content includes well-known podcasts such as “Pod Save America,” “You’re Wrong About,” “This American Life,” “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” and “FiveThirtyEight Politics,” among others.

According to a statement given to TechCrunch, these additions were not the result of any recent agreements or new arrangements with podcast creators, but rather represent Audible’s continuing strategy to establish itself as a leading source of “premium audio storytelling and entertainment.”

It appears Audible intends to leverage this free content to attract users to its subscription service, where they can access Audible’s library of exclusive programs, known as Audible Originals.

Audible has demonstrated an interest in podcasts for several years. In 2016, the company launched “Audible Channels,” a service offering short-form original audio content from publishers including the NYT, WSJ, The Washington Post, and others.

Currently, the company’s collection of original spoken-word content has expanded to encompass documentaries, theatrical performances, sleep programs, and more, alongside a selection of podcasts available exclusively to members.

This past summer, Audible introduced a more affordable subscription option, Audible Plus, designed to provide access to its expanding collection of original content. This membership, priced at $7.95 monthly, now provides over 11,000 pieces of content featuring contributors such as Common, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Morello, Blake Griffin, André Aciman, Tayari Jones, Jesse Eisenberg, St. Vincent, Kevin Bacon, Kate Mara, Maria Bamford, Alanis Morissette, Harvey Fierstein and more.

However, the Plus plan does not include credits for downloading audiobooks, a feature of the $14.95 per month Audible Premium Plus plan. (Audible previously combined its Gold and Platinum plans and rebranded the service.) It concentrates solely on other forms of audio content.

By incorporating free, third-party podcasts, Audible aims to draw users into its app and subsequently encourage them to upgrade to a paid membership, including the new Plus plan.

Audible revealed its plans for the expanded podcast selection on Tuesday, with the new section becoming available today.

The updated website organizes the podcasts into horizontal rows, categorized as “Top Free” podcasts and “Popular,” the latter of which is used to highlight its original content. It also provides thematic organization, such as true crime, comedy, business and management, news, fiction, science and technology, self development, and numerous other categories.

Podcasts exclusive to Audible are identified with a yellow banner on their image thumbnail, as a further incentive to upgrade.

These new additions are also accessible within the Audible mobile app, under the “Podcasts” section, where users can follow shows, provide ratings, and stream episodes, similar to other podcast applications.

Podcasts represent a significant area of investment for streaming platforms currently, with Spotify acquiring studios and podcast startups to increase its audio programming and original content. SiriusXM, the parent company of Pandora, recently finalized its acquisition of Stitcher, including its podcast service, advertising network, and content network Earwolf. Apple has also begun to increase its involvement in this format.

Audible anticipates adding more shows and podcasts in the coming weeks and months.