Illustrative image of the firm Apple. - AFP

Apple will launch its first original podcasts, including a daily newsletter, a small revolution for the Cupertino group which has only played a passive role in the podcast world with its Apple Podcast platform. The new program is called Apple News Today and is based on the Apple News app, which offers articles from newspapers, magazines and news sites, Apple said in a statement on Wednesday.

Each bulletin will include the main news of the day as discussed in the articles posted on the application, all presented by two journalists from Apple News. The first edition, put online this Wednesday, lasts nine minutes, and the average length should be between 7 and 8 minutes.

About twenty episodes per week

Apple News Today, which will put out a daily podcast five days a week around 7 a.m. New York time, will be available for free, as will the app for iPhone users. The apple brand also launched Apple News + Audio Stories, podcasts that will each be devoted to a feature article published on Apple News +, the paid version of Apple News.

Each episode, usually between 15 and 45 minutes long, will involve professional actors to adapt the narration to the audio format. Apple plans to offer about 20 a week.

First step for the giant

These formats are reminiscent of The Daily , the information podcast launched in early 2017 by the New York Times and which has become one of the most downloaded in the world. According to the group, Apple News, which is available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, has more than 125 million monthly active users.

These audio programs, which are produced entirely by Apple without an external partner, are a first step in the production of original content in the form of podcasts for the computer giant. If Apple was already essential in the podcast world, it owed it to its Apple podcast platform, the first global destination for lovers of this format before Spotify takes the lead this year.

But the group had so far not sought to monetize the traffic of its platform or to offer original content. Apple is taking small steps, via Apple News, unlike Spotify, which spent more than $ 600 million between early 2019 and May 2020.

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