As Big Tech courts everyone, niche platforms must understand podcast purists

As boundaries fall, borders blur, and digital goods and services are increasingly decoupled from per-unit value, the mass consumer will turn to low-friction applications that do everything and offer everything. That is exactly where YouTube’s strength lies. 

YouTube’s value proposition is not only video but “free” access to quickly consumable content — and almost any content you can imagine — without the hassle of signing into an account. That is, in part, why the platform has leapfrogged Spotify in podcasting, despite not technically being a podcasting platform. This format-agnostic approach may work for the platforms who cater to more casual consumers, but that leaves open an opportunity for niche platforms to compete for podcast purists.

For mainstream platforms owned by Big Tech, converting existing subscribers to podcasts through a multi-format approach is helping to increase penetration. YouTube, Spotify, and Amazon Music demonstrate the significance of offering multiple formats in one application. Apple Podcasts, with its single-format approach, continues to lose ground to its fellow big tech competitors, dropping almost 10 percentage points in user penetration as YouTube gained almost 30 from 2020-2022.

YouTube and Spotify — both of which offer the most formats within a single app — are not only the most popular platforms for podcast access, but they also show the most equitable spread of low listeners and very high listeners. To a large extent, these platforms are effective at being everything to everyone. However, niche platforms do not have the subscriber base or resources to leverage multiple formats in order to court both low and very high listeners.  

Instead, niche platforms must look to only the highly engaged podcast listeners, i.e., the podcast purists. Already highly engaged podcast listeners over-index significantly for use of podcast purist platforms like Overcast, Luminary, and Downcast. But why do podcast purists choose their preferred platforms, and how do these platforms compete for this niche audience segment? To learn more about how niche platforms can find their place within a podcast industry dominated by Big Tech, download MIDiA’s new report here.