Spotify has begun to roll the Podz podcast discovery system into its main app following a $50 million acquisition last year.
Podz used machine learning to capture 60-second clips of podcast episodes and then pull them into a newsfeed of sorts. That allowed people to see new podcasts as they were released, increasing the chances that a hot new podcast would be spotted. Now, Spotify has begun to roll that into its app.
The move was spotted by Chris Messina who shared a video of the feature in action on Twitter.
Speaking to TechCrunch, a Spotify spokesperson refused to confirm that the feature was being tested or that it was a result of the Podz acquisition. They did say that the company regularly tests changes to help improve the experience of its users, though.
“At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve our user experience,” a spokesperson said. “Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have any further news to share at this time.”
By making podcasts easier to discover Spotify could well turn itself into one of the best iPhone apps for listening to podcasts. The competition is strong, but finding new podcasts isn’t the strong suit of any of the apps that I would normally suggest people check out.
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