Audible has just added 100,000 podcasts to its network and they are all available for free. These podcasts are already available on other streaming platforms, but it’s good news for people who are already invested in the Audible ecosystem. Included in the new lineup are top podcasts like “Pod Save America,” “You’re Wrong About,” “This American Life,” “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” and “FiveThirtyEight Politics.” The podcasts are available in the Audible app for Android and iOS and there is also a new podcast landing page.
Amazon owned Audible is hoping that the more time users spend listening to podcasts, they might turn into paid members. The lowest tier launched this summer and it’s called Audible Plus. It doesn’t provide any credit for audiobooks, but does provide users with a growing collection of originals content. The $7.95 per month membership now offers over 11,000 pieces of content from names like Common, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Morello, Blake Griffin, André Aciman, Tayari Jones, Jesse Eisenberg, St. Vincent, Kevin Bacon, Kate Mara, Maria Bamford, Alanis Morissette, Harvey Fierstein and more. This level basically gives you a totally unique podcasts that are produced by Audible. If you want to listen to all of this free and paid podcast content, in addition to premium audiobooks, Audible does offer a myriad of paid plans that start at $14.95 per month.
Audible pivoting into podcasts is an up hill battle. Spotify says it has at least a million podcasts available to listeners, and Apple says it has 1.5 million. SiriusXM, meanwhile, just completed its acquisition of Stitcher, which included its podcast service, ad network and content network Earwolf. If Audible is serious about podcasts, there is no shortage of content out there they can license or spend money on.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.