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Apple said podcast creators will be able to see how listeners engage with premium subscriptions, while growing their audience using Linkfire’s marketing tools.
Apple has unveiled a range of new features for its Podcast app to give creators new ways to analyse their business.
This includes subscription analytics, which lets podcasters see how listeners engage with their content. Apple said this feature lets creators see various statistics, such as how many listeners started a free trial, their number of paid subscriptions and their estimated subscription revenue.
Subscriptions can also be broken down by country, region and subscription type, such as monthly or annual plans. Users of this feature can also see how many recent subscribers they have or how many have been subscribed for more than a year.
The trends tab gives further insights for creators, such as a breakdown of estimated proceeds generated by monthly subscriptions compared to yearly.
Apple has also announced a new batch of hosting providers that are joining its delegated delivery feature. This feature was released in January and allows creators to publish subscriber episodes directly from a hosting provider dashboard.
The new hosting providers announced are Audiomeans, Captivate, Podbean, Podspace and Transistor. All of these providers are expected to support the delegated delivery feature by the end of 2023.
Linkfire partnership
Meanwhile, Apple said the Linkfire platform has entered an “exclusive integration” with Apple Podcasts. Apple said these marketing tools will allow users to generate “smart links” through their Linkfire account to help measure the ways listeners engage with them.
Apple said creators will also be able to link to their shows on other apps, such as social channels, newsletters, merch stores and live events.
“Linkfire for Podcasts is an absolute game-changer for podcast marketing,” said Linkfire co-founder and CCO Jeppe Faurfelt. “Through our exclusive partnership with Apple Podcasts, Linkfire for Podcasts delivers all-new engagement insights that unlock new marketing capabilities for creators while respecting listener privacy.
“We’re excited to see the creative ways podcasters promote their shows using this innovative toolkit,” Faurfelt said.
Apple said Linkfire will be available to all creators later this year for free, with additional features being available through a Linkfire for Podcasts subscription, which will have a starting cost of $9.99 per month.
Reports circulated earlier this month that Apple is boosting its Music service with a Discovery Station feature, which will play songs users have never heard based on their tastes.
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