Spotify May Bring New Premium Plans for Its Exclusive Podcast Series, Company Survey Hints

Spotify may introduce a separate subscription for its original podcast series, the company’s latest survey hints. As per screenshots of the survey available on Twitter, users with the Spotify Podcast Premium plan would get access to original shows or exclusive episodes on the platform, depending upon the type of subscription. It appears that Spotify is looking at, at least four (or eventually two) subscription plans ranging from $3 (approx Rs 221) to $8 (Rs 600) per month. Some of the acclaimed exclusive Spotify series include The Joe Rogan Experience, Reply All by Gimlet Media, Mama Knows Best by notable TikToker Addison Rae, and many more.

As per the tweet, the cheapest Spotify Podcast plan that would cost $3 includes “access to exclusive interviews and episodes” with “ads (platform inserted and host read ads).” The $8 plan includes benefits such as “high-quality original content,” “early access to some episodes,” and no ads. There’s are two distinct $5 subscription models that include exclusive content with no ads, but one with access to bonus content while the other does not include the same benefit. Spotify in the survey added that the podcast plans do not include the price of its music streaming service.

However, a Spotify spokesperson told The Verge that the survey should not be taken as concrete product plans as the company conducts periodic surveys to improve the platform. “Some of those end up paving the path for our broader user experience and others serve only as important learnings…We have no further news to share on future plans at this time,” the company told the publication.

Spotify over the years has been adding a host of podcast series that are available for free via its apps and web client. As per reports, the platform has over 1.5 million shows, whereas its biggest competitor, Apple Podcasts has over one million series. Users with a Spotify Premium subscription plan can download music and podcast episodes for offline usage. The individual Premium plan in India costs Rs 119 per month while the same plan in the US costs $10.

Recently, Amazon’s audiobook platform Audible added over 100,000 podcasts series that are free to access via an Amazon account. Amazon’s music platform, Amazon Music also offers roughly 70,000 podcast shows for free. Amazon, with the addition of new shows, is hoping to rival Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Some of the exclusive podcasts on Audible can be accessed via Audible Plus subscription. On the other hand, Apple Podcasts does not require any subscriptions for its exclusive podcast series.

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