Apple is improving the analytics data available for its Podcasts subscription service, launched in summer 2021. In the future, creative people should be able to more easily see how their listeners are growing – including conversion rates and trends. Previously, you had to analyze it manually if you could get the information at all.
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Apple is capitalizing on the popularity of its Podcasts app
Audio shows can be monetized directly within Apple’s popular Podcasts app, available for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch. Payment is made via the Group’s well-known in-app distribution system. As usual, the company collects 30 percent commission in the first subscription year, and then 15 percent from the second year. There are monthly and annual subscriptions including a free test phase. The prices can be set in several stages.
So-called freemium content, in which only individual content can be placed behind the paywall, is also possible. This is intended to attract customers to subscribe to the entire offer. The feature was available in 170 countries and regions from the start. The group thus competes directly with large podcast platforms, but also with streaming services such as Spotify, which have also invested heavily in the spoken word content business.
Visualizations and Analysis
With the new Analysis tab that now Part of Apple’s Podcasts Connect interface for managing content a new “Overview” tab shows how many listeners have signed up for a free trial, how many are currently subscribing and what the conversion rate is. You can also see what you earn approximately. The analysis can also be filtered by region. The data is available both in real time and for different periods, such as the last month. In addition, a new trends tab offers “powerful visualizations”, as Apple writes. Here sales trends should be sorted according to activations, cancellations and subscription extensions. The function can be assigned to different team members, all new analytics features are available worldwide.
In addition to the improved data, Apple has also included other partners for hosting. You can now store episodes directly with Captivate, Podbean or Transistor. This so-called delegated delivery system exists since January, back then they started with Libsyn, RSS.com and Omnystudio, among others. Finally, Apple also begins a cooperation with the provider Linkfire, which you can use to build so-called smart links to landing pages – or newsletters and social channels. Pricing starts at $10 a month.
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(bsc)