Spotify continues to build out the features of it’s recently acquired podcasting suite, Anchor, this week they have introduced a helpful new tool to help its creators promote their podcast with small trailers. Spotify’s goal with Anchor is to be the one-stop-shop for everything a novice new podcaster needs to get going. So with that, users of the Anchor app for iOS and Android can now create a unique custom trailer including an introduction and pairing it with some readily available background music, which it then transforms into an animated video in formats so it can easily be shared across social media and the wider web.
Whilst Anchor did already have a way for its creators to mark episodes of their shows as a trailer, their new feature makes it simpler with an integrated and easy to use experience. The trailer will also generate a short snippet that will be ingested into the Podcast RSS feed to allow people to be able to hear it within in their platforms by marking with the “trailer” episode type.
If you already have a voice recording saved elsewhere, you can import it into Anchor to use as your trailer otherwise you can record one right from within the app. When you hit record, you’ll have a minute to create a unique pitch that will introduce your podcast. When you’re satisfied with the recording, you can then browse through Anchors library of free to use background music.
There are other third-party options for creating podcast trailers,such as those from services like Wavve, Headliner, or Audiogram, for example. However, many professional podcasters still view Anchor as a sort of entry-level product and turn to more advanced audio editing suites to craft their shows. But over time, these extra, handy features could help Anchor to earn a place in podcaster’s workflow, even if it’s not their end-to-end solution.
Podcasting has become an important vertical for Anchor’s parent company Spotify, The company reported in July its podcast audience had doubled in size since last year. In October, it said the number of podcast listeners on its service grew 40% from the prior quarter, and it now had 500,000 titles hosted on its platform.
Spotify can monetize podcasts in two ways, as with music — through ads and by pushing people into premium subscriptions. It now has 113 million paying customers and 248 million monthly actives. And once Spotify’s users are subscribed to a number of podcast shows, they’re more likely to stay with the service.
