Audible Adds 100,000 Free Podcasts Available to Everyone

MakeUseOf

By Joe Keeley

Published Oct 29, 2020

With the aim to entice people to its paid service, Audible now hosts millions of podcast episodes for free.

Audible, primarily a platform known for its audiobooks, is now making a bigger push into the world of podcasts, with the addition of around 100,000 third-party podcasts.

What Podcasts Does Audible Have?

Audiobooks have always been Audible's bread and butter and the company isn't moving away from that any time soon.

However, the podcast industry continues to rise and many audio streaming services are jumping on board to get a slice of the pie.

Just look at Amazon, Audible's parent company, which recently added podcasts to Amazon Music. Then there's the more established players like Apple and Spotify, who claim to host over 1.5 million podcasts and are heavily investing in both original and third-party podcast content.

Podcasts aren't a new proposition for Audible. In fact, the service plays host to a number of original podcasts already, with shows hosted by Michael Caine, Mel Robbins, and Sesame Street's Elmo.

Now, Audible is adding around 100,000 third-party podcasts to its service (which totals 5 million episodes), all of which can be streamed for free.

The shows being added include popular hits such as Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, This American Life, and FiveThirtyEight.

These are shows produced by others, and already available on other podcast platforms, but Audible hope to use these to entice users into its paid membership plans.

Audible recently launched a new, cheaper subscription packaged called Audible Plus that costs $7.95/month, which grants access to the platform's original entertainment.

Making it clear that original content and audiobooks remain its priority, the company said in a press release:

Audible listeners now have access to a wider range of innovative and thought-provoking content even beyond our growing library of Audible Originals and our unparalleled catalog of audiobooks — all in one place.

Where Can I Listen to Audible Podcasts?

You can listen to Audible podcasts wherever you normally consume your Audible content. That includes the relaunched Audible Podcasts website, where you can listen without signing up for an Audible account.

Of course, you can also listen to the podcasts through the Audible app. You will find them within the new "Podcasts" category. Here you can view information about a podcast, browse its episodes, rate the show, and follow it for updates.