Welcome to Hot Pod, a newsletter about podcasts. This is issue 219, dated July 23, 2019.
Apple, podcasts, and exclusive content. Obviously, we should talk a little more about the Apple business.
ICYMI: Bloomberg published a story last week reporting that Apple is apparently planning to “fund original podcasts that would be exclusive to its audio service,” and that the company had already reached out to multiple media companies about those efforts. The report also noted that discussions were still preliminary, that Apple “had yet to outline a clear strategy,” and that the plan was formulated to fend off Spotify (and Stitcher). Concrete details were sparse: It’s uncertain whether these discussions pertained to Apple Podcasts or Apple Music, whether the intended deals revolved around licensing existing podcasts or developing new projects (or both), and whether these conversations happened in recent weeks or months.
Which leaves us in potent, and sticky, speculative…
