Apple Launches Affiliate Program for Podcasts Subscriptions

[MacRumors]

Apple has announced a new affiliate program for its upcoming Apple Podcasts Subscriptions platform that will allow users to earn a commission when a podcast link they share leads to a new subscriber.

Launching this month, Apple Podcast Subscriptions will allow users to subscribe to podcasts to receive perks, such as an ad-free listening experience, early access to episodes, and exclusive episodes.

The affiliate program pays a 50% commission for clicked links that lead to a subscription. For example, for a link to a podcast subscription that costs $10, the user would earn $5 in equivalent commissions. Apple says the payment scales globally based on the local market price.

Users who apply to the program are provided with a token that identifies their affiliate account when they publish a link to a paid-for podcast. This token aggregates all revenue generated through the user's affiliate links and pays out the commission earned with 30 days.

Apple's wording suggests that the affiliate program is geared towards podcast creators, however anyone can sign up to it and generate revenue using affiliate links.

Apple's existing affiliate programs cover content and subscriptions tied to the iTunes Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Books. To apply to the podcast affiliate initiative, visit the Apple Services Performance Partner Program.

Article Link: Apple Launches Affiliate Program for Podcasts Subscriptions

 

[pianostar9]

50% commission? Complaints and/or lawsuits in 3... 2... 1...

 

[steve09090]

50% commission? Complaints and/or lawsuits in 3... 2... 1...

Seems like a cross of News+ and Patreon. Can’t see why there would be a lawsuit. Except from Patreon. Apple are allowed to enter in the podcast subscription model. Why should Apple deny themselves the opportunity?

 

[CarpalMac]

50% of nothing is still nothing. I (for one) have been cancelling / consolidating subscriptions, I am definitely not adding them.

Death to a bank balance, by a thousand debits.

 

[bwayne]

Maybe it’s just me but I would never pay for a subscription to a podcast, let alone recommend it to a friend. There must be some terribly lonely people out there desperate for human interaction.

 

[Macintosh IIvx]

50% commission? Complaints and/or lawsuits in 3... 2... 1...

From who? This is Apple giving part of what they'd normally make and giving it to those that help bring in more business. Amazon does the same. They take part of their normal cut and give up to 4% to those that refer buyers to their site. COUNTLESS other sites do it.

 

[locovaca]

Maybe it’s just me but I would never pay for a subscription to a podcast, let alone recommend it to a friend. There must be some terribly lonely people out there desperate for human interaction.

I agree, but a suspect a number of previously free/ad supported podcasts are going to go towards this model. So if you’ve already been invested for a number of years it will be harder to just unsubscribe.

 

[pianostar9]

From who? This is Apple giving part of what they'd normally make and giving it to those that help bring in more business. Amazon does the same. They take part of their normal cut and give up to 4% to those that refer buyers to their site. COUNTLESS other sites do it.

True. I was thinking in terms of Epic v. Apple, which seems to me at least like Epic complaining about Apple taking a 30% cut, where here Apple is taking a 50% cut...

 

[darkslide29]

Maybe it’s just me but I would never pay for a subscription to a podcast, let alone recommend it to a friend. There must be some terribly lonely people out there desperate for human interaction.

That is an interesting take of someone who genuinely enjoys podcasts as their entertainment or educational choice. Sure, there are podcasts of people just chatting every week, but there are also a ton that are produced and part of a series that can be as entertaining as an audio book or tv show. I don’t think I’d call someone subscribing to any other media as desperate for anything.

Having said that, I am getting a subscription fatigue as well.

 

[Macintosh IIvx]

True. I was thinking in terms of Epic v. Apple, which seems to me at least like Epic complaining about Apple taking a 30% cut, where here Apple is taking a 50% cut...

I suppose. But previously this wasn't even something offered. I see it like, if someone came to you today and said, "Hey you can now make money by charging for this thing you couldn't previously charge for but you have to give me half." Would you say, "No, I'll keep giving it away free." or would you take any added money.

It's a funny thing about humans. We're far from rational. There's a great experiment where people are given $100 and have to choose how much of it they'll give to the other person. That other person can choose to accept the offer, or they can decline it and both people get nothing. Now, from an economic point of view, being offered anything is better than nothing at all, so they should accept the offer, no matter how small it is. $1 is still better than $0. But what numerous university studies found was that unless the offer was $50 and more, they were likely to reject the offer. People are more willing to hurt themselves if they believe the offer isn't "fair" than to take the financially beneficial offer. Humans are not at all rational and we don't act the way economics says we should/will.

 

[incoherent_1]

I can’t of think of anything more antithetical to podcasts than locking away certain content behind a paywall. Whether it’s Apple or Spotify or someone else, I hope this effort fails.

 

[hamprepper]

Roguish

 

[pianostar9]

Roguish

Did you reply to the wrong thread?