It's about time
From their earliest days, podcasts were linked closely to Apple. Their very name came from an Apple product: iPod. Apple included podcasts in its music app before spinning out a separate iPhone app in 2012, then made it un-deletable last year, just in time for a boom in the format thanks to the wildly popular “Serial” series from This American Life.
It’s Google’s turn now. The Alphabet company is getting ready to open a dedicated home for podcasts on its Google Play hub. Today the company is letting podcast creators upload shows to Google Play Music, its streaming service; it says listeners will be able to listen to those shows “in the coming months.” It will be, remarkably, the first native app for podcast listening on Android in the content market where Apple carries disproportionate weight.
But Google isn’t just trying to create more Serial fanatics on Android. No, it wants to reach people that have never listened to podcasts. And it wants to broaden its media offerings in the fight with Apple, the frequent go-to platform for media producers.
In so doing, Google plans to use radio shows to bolster its plan to deliver media tailored for the listener’s interests, activities, even moods. That directive is evident in the product’s lead: Elias Roman, co-founder of the streaming service Songza, whose main schtick was building these contextual playlists before Google acquired it last year.
With music, they hit certain quotidian tasks — songs for a morning, a workout, a nap. What about content for the inquisitive listener? Or the depressed one in need of a pick-me-up? This is where podcasts fit in, in Google’s vision. In the same way it curates a playlist, Play Music will suggest radio shows based on factors like the time of day and user inputs, like common activities and moods.
For many in podcasting production, it has been a long time coming. The medium took off with mobile, but it was a lopsided rise. Most podcasters tune in on Apple devices. A survey from Edison research, in May, reported that around seventeen percent of respondents had listened to podcasts in the past month. Some 55 percent owned iPhones, while 40 percent had Androids, roughly the inverse of the U.S. smartphone market. Other podcast producers say their audience comes from iOS at even higher rates.
In part, that’s because Android lacked a dominant podcast app. (One of the more popular ones, Stitcher, was acquired by French streaming service Deezer last year.) Once the Play Music service opens up to listeners, podcast producers will have a new stage on every Android device. Play Music will run the podcasting service on both its subscription offering and free tier, which launched in June. The subscription service, which strips out ads between songs, won’t strip out the ads in podcasts that (remember ‘Mail Kimp’?) tend to be woven into the production.
For many in podcasting production, it has been a long time coming. The medium took off with mobile, but it was a lopsided rise. Most podcasters tune in on Apple devices. A survey from Edison research, in May, reported that around seventeen percent of respondents had listened to podcasts in the past month. Some 55 percent owned iPhones, while 40 percent had Androids, roughly the inverse of the U.S. smartphone market. Other podcast producers say their audience comes from iOS at even higher rates.
In part, that’s because Android lacked a dominant podcast app. (One of the more popular ones, Stitcher, was acquired by French streaming service Deezer last year.) Once the Play Music service opens up to listeners, podcast producers will have a new stage on every Android device. Play Music will run the podcasting service on both its subscription offering and free tier, which launched in June. The subscription service, which strips out ads between songs, won’t strip out the ads in podcasts that (remember ‘Mail Kimp’?) tend to be woven into the production.
If Google can crack that problem, it will please the podcasting world. Despite Apple’s sizable imprint in podcasting, its first stab at a standalone app was fairly buggy. Sorting podcasts algorithmically is not as easy as sorting music — shows don’t fit into such neat genre boxes. Yet the podcast producers Google spole to were optimistic about their odds, noting, in essence, if anyone can do it, Google can. Others have tried personalized podcasts, without much breakaway success.
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