The New York Times to Launch Podcast Subscriptions on Spotify and Apple (Exclusive)

The New York Times is making a significant change to how its podcast business works on two of the largest third-party podcast platforms: Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The Times will launch podcast subscriptions on the audio platforms, requiring users to pay if they want to access archived episodes of programs like The Daily and The Ezra Klein Show, or early access to upcoming shows from Serial Productions.

Spotify and Apple users will still be able to access the most recent episode of the Times podcasts without a subscription.

“We have a slate of really outstanding shows, and we have built out dedicated places for people who want to listen to them on our own platforms, either in our core news app or in our audio app, but we have millions of listeners who are listening to our shows exclusively on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify,” says Ben Cotton, head of subscription products for the Times in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “So we see it as kind of a natural next step to extend our business from an audio standpoint to bring it directly to where listeners are listening to our shows, on those platforms. We think our audio journalism is worth paying for, just the same as everything else that our newsroom produces every day. And we want to sort of take a next step in that journey from a business standpoint.”

The podcast subscriptions will cost $6 per month or $50 for the year, with the changes taking effect next month. Notably, Times home delivery and all access subscribers will be able to continue listening on Spotify and Apple podcasts by verifying their subscriptions in the apps, giving them continued unlimited access.

“In some ways, we’re actually going to learn more about who is listening to our shows on these platforms than we’ve known before,” Cotton says.

The Times is betting that the change can drive more meaningful subscription revenue, which will ultimately be used to create more podcast and audio programming.

“The goal is that it gives us more opportunities to invest in more journalism and more shows and podcasts. So that’s all for the good,” says Paula Szuchman, the Times’s director of audio. “Our strategy is going to continue to tap into Times journalism. We launched a brand new interview show [The Interview] this year that’s designed as a complement to The Daily. These are the kinds of things that we hope to be able to do more of as we’re able to invest more in audio. Basically, our strategy is the more the subscription model works, the more we can invest in growing the portfolio.”

That being said, the Times will also be watching the change closely, with Cotton saying that the news organization wont be afraid to pivot or change its approach.

“It’s certainly something we’ll be kind of monitoring closely over time. We’re doing this on these platforms with podcasts for the first time, so in some sense, we won’t know until we do it, and we’ll just have to see and then evolve quickly,” he says. “With Serial we feel like the way someone’s naturally going to listen to that show is a little bit different, where if you’ve listened to an episode, you’re really going to want to want to find out what happens next. So there, it feels like you want to give someone the chance to listen to the beginning of the show, but then be charging for what comes after that. And so we think if someone really wants to listen to it, and there’s another episode that’s available, we think that’s going to be very compelling as a reason to want to subscribe.”