Apple is making a notable change to its popular Podcasts app, putting a spotlight on narrative-driven series.
The focus on series will include a new “Series” category in the app, as well as a Top Series chart that will include the top 100 serialized podcasts on the platform. In addition, Apple will launch Series Essentials, which will see Apple Podcasts editors select one podcast each month to highlight within the app.
“[Series] are, we think some of the most impactful shows in podcasting. They’re the ones that we can’t stop thinking about. They’re the ones that everyone’s talking about as well, sometimes years after they’ve been released, and they’re the ones that we recommend the most to our friends and family,” Ben Cave, Apple’s global head of Podcasts, tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “I think they’re also critically, a place for innovation as well. So it’s new voices, new ideas, incredible talent from the best voice talent to the best in class writing, sound design, surprising and delighting us with things that we’ve never heard before.”
Series-driven podcasts are indeed some of the most popular forms of the medium, spanning genres like true crime, business, and fiction.
“Having a series chart will create that sort of recurrent destination as the best place to see what’s popular and trending in podcasts, and Apple podcasts has long been the destination for what’s listened to in podcasting,” Cave says. “So this gives us a whole new dimension for that, specifically for serialized content.”
Cave says that the addition of a series chart and dedicated category should drive new engagement to shows in that format. Serial Productions (Serial) and Rachel Maddow (Rachel Maddow Presents: Bag Man and Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra) are among the producers that have produced hit shows in the format.
“I live for stories in any form — books, TV segments, documentaries, movies, graphic novels… any story, any form. But I am never more dialed into a story than when I am hooked on a podcast series,” said Maddow. “There’s just something about a single story — one voice, a sustained narrative that builds from episode to episode and then to an ending. We’re wired to not just learn things this way, but to feel them, too. For my series Ultra and Bag Man, I’ve heard from so many people that these big historical and political tales became for them not just relatable, but emotional. I really think that most of the best stories take longer than one sitting to tell — and that the best stories in the world right now are being told in podcast series.”
Another show that has taken advantage is Ghost Story, produced by Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios. Apple says that Ghost Story will be the first program featured in its Series Essentials program, with cave noting that they intend to highlight podcasts that are the “pinnacle of the medium.” Each series featured in the program will be presented ad-free.
“I think that it speaks to the innovative nature and the way that serialized content drives the medium forward in an interesting way, to create something which is incredibly compelling when you listen to it,” Cave says. “You get that sense of it from minute one, that this is sort of masterful storytelling and something quite unlike anything you’ve heard before.”
In a statement, Ghost Story host Tristan Redman said that he was “thrilled” with the honor.
“After just a year, to be considered for this collection is special,” he added. “We’re all after stories that pull us in. Long-form series podcasts do that; they deserve to be celebrated.”
