When the "Create podcast" button is pressed, the user will either get directed over to Anchor, or sent to a page that will inform them about the podcast creation company. Spotify acquired Anchor and the narrative podcasting company Gimlet in February for nearly $340 million.
"People who consume podcasts on Spotify are consuming more of Spotify — including music," Courtney Holt, the head of Spotify Studios, said at the time of the acquisition. "So we found that in increasing our [podcast] catalog and spending more time to make the user experience better, it wasn’t taking away from music, it was enhancing the overall time spent on the platform." A "Create podcast" button will certainly work towards Spotify's goal of increasing engagement on their app.
"We are always testing new products and experiences to improve the overall Spotify experience," Spotify told The Verge about their new "test" button in a statement. "Some tests will eventually make way for upgrades to our product, others are only tests. We have no further news to share at this time."
Spotify also owns Soundtrap, which launched a podcast production tool in May, but their efforts to solely promote Anchor as the go-to podcast creation could simply mean that the company wants to make good on their lucrative investment while providing users with as simple of an app as possible.
