Apple has always been strongly associated with podcasts, thanks in no small part to the iPod. There is a chicken-and-egg style debate about the connection, but there’s no doubt the device cemented the link between Apple and podcasts in the mind of many consumers. Despite this, for years, Apple has only really provided a distribution platform for podcasters in both the hardware and software spaces.
Until very recently, it never looked to produce podcasts itself, nor provide creators with direct ways to make money via its platform. As Joseph Evans, Head of Tech at analysis firm Enders Analysis, told MacFormat:
“Apple has been a bit of a neglectful parent of podcasting. For years it controlled most of the listening but failed to invest in things that could have helped creators, like analytics orclunky workarounds came along to fill some of those gaps, like Patreon [] and advertisement tech providers. But it took real competition for listening to wake Apple up – since Spotify made its ambitions in podcasting clear, Apple has started to launch many of the obvious features that were missing.”
