Everything you need to know about Apple Podcasts Subscriptions (in 10 short tweets) https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⤵️" title="Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Krümmung nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Nach rechts zeigender Pfeil mit Krümmung nach unten">

1/10 Apple is launching Apple Podcast Subscriptions where listeners can pay for podcast content.

There will be three types of shows in Apple Podcasts: free, freemium, and paid podcasts.

2/10

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="1️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 1" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 1"> Free: Standard podcasts run off RSS
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="2️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 2" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 2"> Freemium: Mix of free and paid where you can pay to unlock exclusive episodes
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="3️⃣" title="Tastenkappe Ziffer 3" aria-label="Emoji: Tastenkappe Ziffer 3"> Paid: Listeners pay a fee to access the content

3/10

If you "Subscribe" to a podcast that means you& #39;re paying for it. If it& #39;s free you "Follow" the podcast.

Follow = free
Subscribe = paid

(Apparently, lots of people expected they& #39;d pay to subscribe to an RSS Feed.)

4/10

For freemium podcasts, exclusive content can be:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen"> bonus episodes
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen"> longer versions of episodes
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen"> episodes w/o ads
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen"> early release content
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✅" title="Fettes weißes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes weißes Häkchen"> access to the show& #39;s archives

It can& #39;t be:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❌" title="Kreuzzeichen" aria-label="Emoji: Kreuzzeichen"> content that is free somewhere else (fair enough)

5/10

Cost: Access to this program costs $20/year + 30% of the subscription cost. After somebody has been Subscribed ($) for a year, Apple drops their cut to 15%.

(More expensive than @supercast, @Patreon, and others, but you& #39;re paying for the convenience.)

6/10

Trials: For paid podcasts, you can offer free trials so people can see if they want to Subscribe ($).

That could be a free 7-day trial or a free episode.

7/10

Apple Podcasts isn& #39;t available on Windows or Android (30% of the podcasting market), but maybe that could change in the future? https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👀" title="Augen" aria-label="Emoji: Augen">

They did release Apple Music for Android... https://twitter.com/NathanG/status/1384628583021297673">https://twitter.com/NathanG/s...

8/10

Channels: Channels are groups of shows (podcasts).

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✳️" title="Stern mit 8 Strahlen" aria-label="Emoji: Stern mit 8 Strahlen"> Individual podcast can only be in a single channel

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✳️" title="Stern mit 8 Strahlen" aria-label="Emoji: Stern mit 8 Strahlen"> It looks like you& #39;ll be able to Subscribe ($) to an entire channel like the @QCODEmedia or @hearluminary channel to get access to all their shows

9/10

Downside: If you start an Apple Podcasts Subscription one downside is that Apple owns the customer relationship.

As @benthompson points out, this makes it harder for you to monetize your audience outside of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions.

10/10

Apple says you can start to upload paid content now and it will all be available in May, but you should hold off for now.

They& #39;re still working out some bugs with Apple Podcasts Connect. https://podnews.net/update/apple-podcasts-bugs-disappearances">https://podnews.net/update/ap...

If you found this helpful, and want to stay up to date on podcasting & social audio, I& #39;d love it if you followed me here on Twitter.

You can also read my thread on FB& #39;s social audio announcements: https://twitter.com/AlbanBrooke/status/1384543535236632578">https://twitter.com/AlbanBroo...

If you liked these 10 short tweets, you might like this 1 long YouTube video where we go into a LOT more detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kllJrkDeXw8">https://www.youtube.com/watch...