Report: Apple to fund exclusive podcasts


Bloomberg:

Executives at the company have reached out to media companies and their representatives to discuss buying exclusive rights to podcasts, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the conversations are preliminary. Apple has yet to outline a clear strategy, but has said it plans to pursue the kind of deals it didn’t make before.

Spotify has been swooping up podcast production companies and has been funding original programming. The aim is to attract subscribers and ad revenue. Apple's move could be a similar effort to bolster Apple Music or perhaps a future new revenue stream. As-is, Apple doesn't make direct revenue from podcasts. It has, however, benefited indirectly by hosting a podcast directory and making it easier for its users to discover and subscribe to podcasts.