Saw this on mastodon and thought I’d share it here.
No, this was not a baked in ad by the podcast hoster but literally inserted by Spotify.
Just FYI, those two things don’t need to be exclusive. In this case Spotify is probably the one sponsoring the podcast, and so they inserted ads themselves, as opposed to the content creators including their sponsor ads. Many more successful podcasts are doing this now, and it seems like the ads get shoved in when there sometimes aren’t even breaks.
Not saying it doesn’t suck, it absolutely does. Just pointing out that it’s a new trend. So it’ll probably get worse!
Just FYI, those two things don’t need to be exclusive. In this case Spotify is probably the one sponsoring the podcast
As this was the WAN show by LTT I doubt that. At least the sponsoring.
Spotify inserts their own ads into every podcast, regardless of whether you have premium or not. Then on top of that the podcasters themselves usually insert either ads or sponsorships into it too. I’ve seen countless podcasts do this now. In the worst cases that feels something like this: ad (by spotify) > introduction and depending on the podcaster potentially ads there too > barely any content > sponsorship > barely any content > ad (by spotify) > barely any content > podcast break and either sponsorship or ads by the podcaster > repeat for 2nd half
Genuine question - why does anyone listen to podcasts on Spotify? There have been and still are a TON of quality podcast apps that are 100% free and don’t do this bullshit. Like, I’m aware Spotify has podcasts but in my mind Spotify is music, podcast app is podcasts. It was that way for more than a decade. I just don’t get it TBH.
Probably they just want to use the same app they’re using for listening to music. Although I also have them both. And I love AntennaPod more for podcasts, plus there’s no tracking, and it’s just a different experience overall.
I briefly listened to podcasts on Spotify til I realised they inserted ads despite me being a paying member. I don’t really listen to podcasts at all anymore, but when I do I usually listen to YouTube ones since adblock + sponsorblock = zero ads and interruptions
