Apple Podcasts adds The New York Times to subscription program, boosting revenue with paywalled shows

Apple has a new high profile partner for its Podcasts subscription business in The New York Times. The Times is effectively paywalling its archive of popular podcast feeds like The Daily and Hard Fork. Podcasts app users can unlock the full archive and more with a paid subscription that contributes a percentage to Apple’s Services revenue.

Axios has the news, adding that The New York Times is similarly offering its paid perks through Spotify as well:

Come October, listeners will need to subscribe to The Times’ audio content to unlock older episodes of The Times’ hit shows, such as “The Daily,” “The Ezra Klein Klein Show,””Modern Love,” or “Hard Fork.”

At launch, the three most recent episodes of “The Daily” will be available to all listeners for free on any platform. But the deeper archive will be available to subscribers only. Most other shows will only feature the latest two episodes for free. Subscribers will also get other perks, such as early access to new shows from Serial Productions, an audio production firm acquired by The Times in 2020.

The Times already monetizes podcasts through advertising and its NYT Audio app membership. However, it can be a tough sell to ask podcast listeners to switch from the podcast app they already use to a bespoke podcast player for specific shows.

For Apple, the move shows the benefits of the company’s years-long game of building a podcast listener base, then finding ways to monetize the platform while staying competitive with Spotify and the like.

There is one key area where Apple hasn’t been able to strike a deal with The New York Times, however. The New York Times would be a huge get for Apple News+. For now, The Times only offers Wirecutter and The Athletic as part of the ad-backed Apple News experience.