Apple final month unveiled its plans for paid podcast subscriptions in a newly redesigned Apple Podcasts app. Now, it’s introducing a brand new program that can assist podcast creators develop their subscriber base: affiliate advertising. The firm’s “Apple Services Performance Partner Program,” which already exists to assist market different Apple companies like Apple TV, Apple News, and Apple Books, is at present increasing to incorporate paid podcasts.
The new program — “Apple Services Performance Partner Program for Apple Podcasts” (whew!) — will probably be open to anybody, although the corporate believes it should take advantage of sense for publishers and creators who have already got an viewers and quite a few advertising channels the place they will share these new affiliate hyperlinks. When customers convert by clicking via one of many hyperlinks and subscribe to a premium podcast, the associate will obtain a one-time fee at 50% of the podcast subscription worth, after the subscriber accumulates their first month of paid service.
So, for instance, if a paid podcast was charging subscribers $5 per 30 days, the fee can be $2.50. This fee would apply for each new subscriber that signed up via the affiliate channel, and there’s no cap.
Podcast creators may use the affiliate hyperlinks to advertise their very own paid applications, which might permit them to generate incremental income.
While anybody can apply to affix the affiliate program, there’s an approval course of concerned. This is principally about protecting spammers out of the program, and guaranteeing that these signing up do have a minimum of some advertising channels the place they will distribute the hyperlinks. The sign-up kind asks for particular standards — like what number of channels can be found and the way the associate intends to make use of them to advertise the affiliate hyperlinks, amongst different issues.
The program will probably be made out there to anybody within the 170 international locations and areas the place paid podcasts subscriptions are being made out there.
Once authorized and signed in, affiliate companions will acquire entry to an on-line dashboard the place they will create hyperlinks (i.e. shortened URLs) very like another affiliate program. They may create a number of URLs for an particular person podcast to make it simpler to trace how nicely totally different channels are performing. The URLs will be posted on their very own, tied to a “Listen on Apple Podcasts” badge, or will be made out there as a QR code. The latter might make extra sense when dwell occasions return, because it could possibly be printed on signage or in flyers that have been distributed throughout a dwell taping, for instance. It is also utilized in different kinds of promoting, together with each print and digital.
Though premium podcasts already existed, till extra not too long ago that usually concerned paying a podcaster on to entry a non-public RSS feed. Smaller companies like Stitcher additionally used subscriptions to offer paying prospects with a collection of perks, like ad-free listening and unique content material. The new efforts by each Apple and Spotify are centered on wooing creators to their platforms, the place they’ll take a lower of the subscription revenues. Spotify is waiving its 5% charge for the primary two years, whereas Apple is using its standard mannequin of 30% in 12 months 1 that drops to fifteen% in 12 months two.
While individuals can start to enroll within the new affiliate program beginning at present, paid podcasts aren’t really launching till later this month, per Apple. When they do, these enrolled within the affilate program will have the ability to create hyperlinks and start incomes commissions on subscriptions.
