Over the last couple of years, Spotify has made a lot of noise in the podcasting world by introducing a slew of new features. Spotify’s 5-Star Rating System for Podcasts has been announced, enabling fans to evaluate their favorite artists. In a blog post, the platform said that it aims to “offer listeners a chance to support their favorite podcast series,” as well as promote two-way contact between listeners and artists. “The average rating, as well as the overall number of ratings the episode has earned, will be publicly shown on the podcast’s show page on Spotify,” Spotify noted.
Only creators who have garnered ten or more ratings from listeners may view their ratings.
Spotify stated that the service will be available in areas where it distributes podcasts over the following several days. As long as they’ve gotten at least 10 ratings, creators may check their ratings on the Spotify show page. While the ranking method seems to be identical to Apple Podcasts evaluations, Spotify asserts differently.
For the time being, the firm said that it would just provide a rating system. Apple’s solution, on the other hand, enables listeners to leave a review. There’s a common misconception in the podcast business that ratings and reviews have an influence on a podcast’s reach on Apple’s platform. However, the corporation makes it clear in its literature that reviews or ratings have no bearing on charting. Similarly, Spotify said that the new rating system would have no impact on how a podcast gets discovered or charted.
“Ratings are a wonderful way for potential listeners to rapidly judge a show’s quality,” a Spotify representative told TechCrunch. “However, at this time (since we’re in the early days for this feature), a show’s rating is not incorporated into podcast rankings or tailored recommendations.”
Spotify is also expanding into the audiobook market, as we just learnt. As part of this strategy, the business purchased audiobook distributor Findaway. In the absence of regulatory permission, the purchase is almost certain to go through. With this new initiative, Spotify hopes to “eliminate present limits and provide better economic tools for producers,” a “Ratings are a wonderful way for potential listeners to rapidly judge a show’s quality”, according to a Spotify official who spoke with tech news site TechCrunch.
As of right now (since we’re in the early stages of implementing this functionality), a show’s rating is not taken into consideration when ranking podcasts or making personalised suggestions. As we just learned, Spotify is also making inroads into the audiobook industry. As part of this plan, the company invested in audiobook distributor Findaway, which it acquired in 2011. In the absence of regulatory approval, it is virtually probable that the deal will go through. Spotify intends to “remove current limitations and give better economic tools for creators” with this new project, according to the firm.
The well-known music-streaming business is also attempting to improve its user experience by including new aspects. Last month, the company started experimenting with a vertical video stream similar to that of TikTok. Spotify, on the other hand, has not said whether or not the capability would be included in the app in the future.
Spotify acquires Whooshkaa and adds podcast star ratings.
Over the next several days, Spotify will introduce a 5-star podcast rating system. Listeners may rate a broadcast after listening for 30 seconds, and after it achieves 10 ratings, the average score will be shown publicly. Apple Podcasts’ long-held statistics are no longer theirs, and calls-to-action have just become a whole lot messy.
“We’re making it simpler for listeners to figure out when to check out a new podcast that may become their next favorite,” Spotify stated in a statement. (To save time, replace when with where.) Podcasters may even get intro and outro scripts from the firm to “finally urge” listeners to give a review. Meanwhile, Whooshkaa, an Australian startup, is Spotify’s newest purchase. According to Sarah Perez of TechCrunch, it now has “specific technology that enables radio broadcasters to simply adapt their current audio output into on-demand podcast programming.” Radio is either on-demand or at risk under Spotify.
