Podcasts are now a viral medium of entertainment for everyone. You can listen to your favorite podcast shows while working, driving, or cooking. One of the excellent podcast apps is Pocket Casts. The company has decided to alter its revenue model by making the app free for all and launching a subscription service. Earlier, the users had to pay $4 to $10 to use the app, depending upon their respective OS and platform. However, now users do not have to pay for downloading the app; instead, they can opt-out for a premium subscription service of $0.99 or $10 annually. This premium service is known as Pocket Casts Plus.
The feature this app provides is customizable themes, icons, and access to the app on the desktop. A 10 GB Cloud storage is also offered if you want to upload both audio and video content. Another good news for people who’ve already paid for Pocket Casts desktop app is that you are offered three years of access to Pocket Casts Plus for free.
A benefit of this cloud storage, according to CEO Owen Grover, is that the creators can watch or listen to their content before publishing it. Pocket Casts is rivaling with its iOS competitor Apple Podcasts. However, when it comes to Android users, Pocket Casts is the only top player. However, recently, new competitors like Spotify and Google Podcasts are challenging the top-dog app. As the new competitors have entered the market, it’s becoming tough for existing players to convince customers to pay for the subscription of a podcast app. However, the CEO Owen Grover says that they believe in “open-access philosophy” of their public media ownership. That’s why the management of Pocket Casts is willing to go further to improve their monetization methods without ruining the experience of the customers.
