Spotify adds listener polls and Q&As to podcasts
The new features, available on Spotify's mobile apps for most Spotify listeners starting with Anchor podcasts, amp up interactive dialogue between podcaster and audience.
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Spotify is adding listener polls and more open-ended Q&As as a way for creators to widen interactivity with their audiences on its streaming service's mobile apps, starting with certain podcasts. The features, which had been in testing earlier this year, will roll out starting Thursday with podcasts produced with Anchor, the podcast creation platform that Spotify bought in 2019. Spotify listeners in 160 markets will be able to take part in the polls and Q&As -- so the vast majority of Spotify listeners but not quite all of them worldwide.
"In testing, we've seen creators use Q&A and Polls in a wide variety of ways: to get suggestions for future guests, garner feedback on topic choice and format and create fun gamification that keeps listeners coming back to hear the hosts' take on their responses," Spotify said in a post about the rollout.
Over the past three years, Spotify itself has been on a podcasting binge. Having grown into the biggest music-streaming service worldwide, it targeted its next stage of growth in podcasts. Spotify's pursuit to becoming a top destination for nonmusic audio has helped it continue to expand, most recently reporting more than 3 million listeners globally.
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