Spotify's New Creator Program Is Here to Take On YouTube

Is Spotify the new YouTube? It looks like they would like to be.

At the streaming service's Now Playing event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the company announced its new Spotify for Creators program. In addition to improved analytics and audience growth tools, the biggest change to the revamped creator platform includes new ways for podcasters to monetize their video content.

According to Maya Prohovnik, Spotify’s vice president of podcast product, there are "more ways for [podcasters] to earn for their work since we know that’s top of mind for many creators today," she said in an interview. "With this program, creators can earn a revenue share on ads played on or off Spotify, or they can earn based on how much Premium subscribers stream their video content. The video content will be uninterrupted by ads for Premium viewers" starting in January.

"Currently, more than one in three US podcast users engage with video, and Spotify’s video library now includes over 300,000 video podcast shows," journalist Taylor Lorenz wrote in her Substack User Mag today. "These stats clearly show an opportunity for Spotify to lure creators (and their fans) away from YouTube."

Lorenz reports that podcasters in attendance were "skeptical but optimistic," and while the company hasn't shared any CPM (cost per mille) yet, they say it will be "worth it."

But Lorenz doesn't think YouTube will see a mass exodus of big names just yet. She cites YouTube's more video-centric algorithm and discovery, as well as a risk of cannibalizing their own content if YouTube is their main income stream as reasons podcasters might be wary to test the Spotify video waters.