Timestamped Podcast in Spotify

Spotify is adding more social sharing options to its Android and iOS apps. This way includes a link to a timestamp in a podcast. When you tap the share button, you’ll see a toggle option that’ll let you create a link for the current playtime. After sharing the link, anyone who taps it can start listening to the podcast from the same spot.

The idea can spark conversations. The host says something interesting you want to speak with your friends about, will be easier to direct them to a certain part of an episode, just like you might share a timestamp of a YouTube video.

Podcasts have been a key growth area for Spotify over the past couple of years. A quarter of Spotify users will now listen to podcasts on the platform. According to a survey of users sharing on social media plays a major role in helping people find new things on Spotify, with around 40% of music discovery attributed. Perhaps timestamp sharing will do something similar for podcasts. It will encourage more users to sign up for podcast subscriptions too.

Spotify users will be able to share songs through the Canvas feature on Snapchat in addition to Instagram Stories. Users can get to see a preview of how the Canvas video will look on your feed. The Canvas share sheet will show you only the apps you have on your device. If you are a regular post to Instagram Stories and don’t have Snapchat installed, you’ll see Instagram among the sharing options but not Snapchat. The company announced a new paid subscription platform for podcasts that allows podcasters to mark episodes as subscriber-only without taking revenue from their paid-for content.