Podcasts are a remarkably popular endeavor these days, only growing in strength over the last few years. Apple saw its potential and put a renewed focus on its own podcasts platform. Spotify is even going big on the idea. A brand new paid service called Luminary is looking to shake things up.
It took less than a day for Luminary to become enemy number one of the podcast industry. Last month, on the same day that it unveiled its subscription podcast service, the company tweeted a typed-out image of a bunny holding a sign: “Podcasts don’t need ads.” Fans of the famously ad-supported industry revolted.
Luminary is a $100 million startup, and its CEO, Matt Sacks, sees plenty of room for the platform to exist alongside Apple Podcasts and other options.
Matt Sacks says, is that podcast listeners should have a choice: pay for subscription-based shows without ads or listen to podcasts for free but deal with ads as a price.
“We really do feel like what we’re introducing is choice and optionality and trying to help elevate premium and paid podcasting, which would be good for creators and listeners, as well,” he says.
But the industry hasn’t accepted Luminary or its impending launch. When it rolls out to the public on iOS, Android, and the web, Luminary’s podcast app will be missing some of the industry’s biggest shows, including The New York Times’ The Daily and Gimlet Media shows like Reply All and Homecoming.
Luminary will be available in Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It will be available on iOS, Android, and on the web.
And there will be high-profile podcasts available right out of the gate, including Lena Dunham’s “The C-Word”, “Let’s Talk This Out With Trevor Noah”, Hannibal Buress’s “Handsome Rambler”, and many others. However, it will also be missing quite a few different popular podcasts as well, including “The Daily” from The New York Times and “Reply All” from Gimlet Media (which was recently acquired by Spotify). And not having these shows may be a huge obstacle for Luminary:
“By withholding their shows, the Times and Spotify are setting Luminary up to fail — or at least struggle to get off on the right foot with users. It certainly seems like the first shot fired in the inevitable premium podcast war and could destabilize one of the first buzzy, well-funded entrants before it can make a dent in the industry.”
There is a free tier with Luminary, which will offer the bulk of publicly available podcasts out there. The paid tier is meant to offer high-tier exclusive offerings, as mentioned above. They will only be available on Luminary’s platform, which could help give it a leg up. However, missing “The Daily” and “Reply All”, among others, will automatically make it a nonstarter for some listeners.
via The Verge
