Spotify will reportedly overtake Apple Podcasts in terms of engagement and user base soon.
The European streaming giant launched its own Podcast platform to better compete with Apple and rivals such as TIDAL and Acast, and now Spotify is on its way to becoming the world’s biggest.
According to a new report from eMarketer, Spotify will soon overtake Apple Podcasts in the number of users globally. A previous report back in 2019 found that Spotify already had more podcast listeners than Apple in some markets, like Europe and South America, and as time has passed, it seems that more and more are jumping ship or listening to podcasts for the first time using Spotify over Apple.
By the end of this year, Spotify will have 28.2 million podcast users in the US compared to Apple’s 28 million in the US. Although it’s a relatively small difference, it demonstrates the serious growth of Spotify in recent years, especially considering Apple has been offering podcast functionality for years via iTunes.
What will perhaps be most concerning to Apple is that Spotify is growing its listenership in the US compared to Apple’s stagnation. Spotify is expected to overtake Apple in the US by the end of this year. When you consider that 40% of internet users in the US listen to podcasts once a month, with the figure growing to 45% by the end of 2024, it’s clear that Apple needs to do more to win users over.
Apple revamped its Podcasts app earlier in the year and also launched Apple Podcasts Subscriptions to allow users to subscribe to creators for premium content, but whether that will be enough remains to be seen. Are you an Apple fan? Do you prefer Spotify? Let us know and check back soon for more.
