Spotify adds star ratings to podcasts

Spotify Podcast Stars (Image credit: Spotify)

What you need to know

Spotify has added support for star ratings.
Podcast listeners can leave a one through five-star rating after listening.

Spotify has announced the addition of star ratings to the "more than 3.2 million podcasts" on its platform, borrowing from similar features already available on the likes of Apple Podcasts.

The move, which was announced via a press release, gives podcast fans a way to "show your favorite podcasters you love them" and, presumably, show them when you don't as well.

... starting today, we're beginning to roll out ratings for podcasts: a star rating system that improves podcast discoverability by highlighting shows' popularity. Podcast ratings give listeners an opportunity to support their favorite podcast shows and enable a two-way feedback loop between creator and listener.

Spotify says that people will be given the opportunity to leave a one through five-star rating after listening to a show. The average rating will then be made visible on the podcast's show page along with the total number of ratings that have been left.

The new rating feature will be available in "nearly all markets where podcasts are on Spotify," with those people set to receive the change "over the coming days."

Whether you feel Spotify is the best iPhone app for listening to podcasts or not is up to you, but a ton of people already use the same app for listening to music rather than Apple Music. There's no denying that having everything in one app is a big draw for some people.

For podcasters, a more lengthy explainer of what the new ratings mean for them is available on the Anchor blog right now.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.