Twitter Enters Podcast Space and Expands Social Media Marketing Options

Credit: Twitter

A Twitter podcast platform might seem odd but it’s what’s coming next for the social media platform. Twitter is expanding Spaces—the network’s voice communication functionality—to integrate with podcasts. This enables users to listen to various shows, served by the platform based on one’s preferences. The audio shows are accessed on the Spaces tab within which a variety of stations, sorted according to themes and topics, are hosted. Twitter rolls out the new Spaces tab starting today globally to select English-speaking communities.

The push toward podcasts is backed by research. As it turns out, 45% of United States Twitter users tune in to podcasts monthly. And so, the social network thought of banking on this since it already has Spaces. Besides recorded shows, the redesigned Spaces will also offer live programs so as to not alienate those who have been using the voice communication feature. Users can give a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down” to shows displayed to help the algorithm provide content that is best suited to their interests.

Offering podcasts to users will be a challenge, given that there are currently over 2.4 million podcasts carrying more than 69.29 million episodes, and this is only for those available on Apple Podcasts. Twitter’s ability to curate shows would likely improve over time as its analytics engine receives more user data to process.

Twitter’s entry into the podcast space puts the network in competition with Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and it has a bit of an advantage since a lot of users share podcasts on social media. This should put the new Spaces on the radar of marketers. After all, podcasts are viable tools for promotion.

Integration of Podcasts with Social Media Marketing

Podcasts are popular channels for marketing. Recent digital marketing software statistics reveal that the ad revenue of podcasts amounted to $1.4 billion in 2021—representing a 72% year-over-year growth—and is set to exceed $2 billion this year, ultimately reaching more than $4 billion by 2024. The staggering revenue growth originates from the medium’s perpetually increasing content and user base as well as the growing development and usage of ad delivery solutions. As a result, advertisers have consistently increased their fund allocation to podcasts.

Twitter potentially raises these numbers as a popular social network. With the platform hosting 486 million active users worldwide and 83.4 million in the US, the number of US Twitter users listening to podcasts amounts to 37.5 million, based on Twitter’s findings. These people would likely share some of the podcasts they listen to, which could generate a buzz and increase the share of listeners on the platform.

The average tweet carries an engagement rate of 0.4, more so for brands of high-traffic industries such as sports and food. As such, podcasts under these high-volume categories would likely draw more listeners, which means opportunities for marketers. They can insert podcasts in their ad and content distribution strategies to target niche audiences and raise conversions.

It’s important to note that podcast hosts are often viewed as authority figures in their specialized fields. They can foster trust among their listeners in the products they promote, which potentially results in a sales uptick.