Source: Spotify/The Verge
What you need to know
- Spotify is set to surpass Apple Podcasts with the most listeners.
- The service is projected to have 28.2 million monthly podcast listeners by the end of 2021.
- That would pass Apple Podcasts which is projected to end the year with 28 million monthly listeners.
It looks Spotify might become number one in another area: podcasts.
According to a new report from eMarketer the #1 streaming music service is set to surpass Apple Podcasts as the #1 podcasting service as well. The report anticipates Spotify to end the year with 28.2 million monthly podcast listeners over Apple Podcasts' 28 million in the United States.
Spotify is still expanding its podcast listenership in the US, while Apple Podcasts' has essentially stagnated. In fact, Spotify will narrowly surpass Apple in that metric by the end of this year. The Swedish streaming company will have 28.2 million monthly podcast listeners over Apple's 28.0 million, a razor-thin lead that will widen in the years to come.
The report does on to say that Spotify's growth will continue all of the way through the forecasted year of 2025. It anticipates the streaming service to grow from 28.2 million listeners to 43.6 million by the end of 2025. That would be equivalent to 12.7% of the population of the country.
- This year, 40.0% of US internet users will tune in to podcasts at least once per month. Given the medium's rapid listener growth thus far, we expect that growth to slow down for the next few years.
- Despite this overall deceleration, Spotify's growth among that listener base will continue to increase through the end of our forecast period in 2025.
- YouTube and Google Podcasts are also popular platforms for podcast listening in the US. Amazon Music continues to build out its audio offerings and invest in the medium. (We do not yet publish podcast listener forecasts for these platforms.)
Apple has been making moves to compete with Spotify recently in the area of podcasting. The company launched the new Apple Podcasts Subscriptions product, redesigned the app, and is launching original podcasts based on content from Apple TV+.

Gorgeous new Pride Apple Watch bands are now available at some Apple Stores
Apple's latest Pride Apple Watch bands are now available to buy in some Apple Stores, although whether you can walk into a store and pick one up yourself will very much depend on where you happen to be.

Rare Steve Jobs check for $9.18 goes under the hammer, could fetch $25k
A rare check signed by Steve Jobs dated July 23, 1976, has just gone up for auction and could be worth a lot more than it was originally written out for...

Apple store workers get surprise pay rise as union pressure grows
Apple plans to give U.S. workers a pay rise in the face of growing pressure from unions that are emerging in some retail locations.

Track your sleep to see your night habits and develop better resting tools
Getting proper sleep these days can be hard, but a good sleep tracker can potentially help fix the problem. Tracking your sleep can give you valuable data on how long and well you slept, as well as insight into how you can ultimately get better rest. Here are the best ones.