Spotify is turning their streaming platform into more of a social networking app than a music-streaming one alone. They are expanding the way we listen to podcasts by adding comments and allowing listeners to engage with hosts. And they are following a more nuanced approach to implementing it.
Statistics show that listeners tend to listen to podcasts more and show a desire to interact with podcast hosts. Spotify's aim is to give them that, as well as enable creators to build communities with the podcast comments feature. Ultimately, it could improve listener retention and the number of podcasts' listens.
According to the company’s internal data, listeners who engage with interactivity features on Spotify are around four times more likely to return to a show within 30 days. They also listen to two times more podcasts, on average, than those who don’t engage with these features. source
I am an avid listener to podcasts myself. I have favourites I listen to, and I tend to listen all through their episodes or listen to more because they are. I often want to leave comments, sharing my opinions on their content, but then I remember that I cannot do that.
What Spotify is doing is setting themselves up as competitors against YouTube with this new feature. We already have that interaction ability on YouTube with creators. And Spotify just recently expanded their video feature for podcasts, and so there are now many podcasts that come in videos as well, just like YouTube.
This feature, along with others Spotify has added in recent times, including polls and Q&As, has taken the streaming platform from being just a music app to a social network for audio-related content. Times are changing, and it does make a lot of sense for Spotify to keep on improving to remain at the top of their game.
Now this feature isn't going to be a new default for podcasts. There is a level of control and moderation they are giving to creators in their content.
The podcast comments will be an optional feature that creators can choose to opt-in to or opt-out of. And even if they choose to opt-in, they can choose the episodes to enable it when uploading, just like you can turn off comments on YouTube videos when publishing.
Hosts will be able to like and reply to comments and even receive alerts on them, but they will also be able to choose what comments show up. It does seem like another chore to have to filter comments manually, but Spotify will also automatically check for policy violations.
I find the comment moderation feature particularly useful, as one wouldn't easily find troll comments or such comments and be discouraged or swayed by them. Creators will also be able to block commenters. And Spotify will also be providing insights and analytics to creators.
Similar to YouTube's Super Chat and Super Stickers, there may be fan badges listeners will pay for to earn. It's all part of community-building as well as improving monetization.
Receiving replies from creators on my comments and getting push notifications is something that could bring me back to the app every now and then and feel inclusive in some way, and that is exactly what Spotify's goal is with the podcast comments feature.
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All images by Spotify
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