According to a report on Tuesday, Apple is planning a multimedia blitz beyond just television to promote its Apple TV+ service, and is discussing expanding into podcasts discussing the programming.
The report claims that Apple requested pitches in the summer of 2019. Sources familiar with the matter claim that the requests have since evolved into the company considering making podcasts with Apple TV+ production staff from the assorted shows.
Bloomberg notes in Tuesday's report that the plans have yet to be finalized.
The report on Tuesday is a refinement of one from the publication from July 2019. The previous report claimed that Apple was looking at generating some form of unique content of its own, distributed exclusively through the Podcasts app -- similar to Spotify's approach.
Apple would not be alone in attempting to make exclusive content for its own devices at the expense of other podcasting services. In February, it was revealed Spotify acquired major podcast creator Gimlet and podcast creation and distribution producer Anchor, in order to chip away at Apple Podcasts' market share.
It is speculated that the Apple Podcasts app is used for between 50% and 70% of listening for most podcasts, industry executives claim, with monthly podcast listenership more than doubling in the United States since 2014.
A shift into original programming for the Podcasts app would be an extension of the company's existing strategy of improving its services with subscription-based offerings. Having already launched Apple News+ and with the Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade launched in late 2019, funding podcasts seems like a logical fit alongside the others.
While it may not end up being content offered under a subscription, Apple's funded podcasts could help provide advertising revenue. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, podcasts generated $479 million in advertising revenue in the United States in the last year, with sales growing 65% on average per year for the last three years.