Facebook throws in the towel with podcasts and consumes another failure

Barely a year after its launch, Facebook has decided to unsubscribe from its own podcast service. This has been confirmed by the company to the Bloomberg media, where they assure that they will stop allowing new podcasts to be uploaded to their platform starting this week. This feature was originally launched in April 2021 and seemed like an attempt by the company to compete against Spotify and other similar services.

Meta has also confirmed that all podcasts uploaded to its platforms will be completely removed this coming June 3. On the other hand, the platform itself and the Soundbites will be closed at some point in the “next few weeks”, as confirmed by the aforementioned medium. For its part, the Live Audio Rooms will be coupled to the Facebook Live service.

Of course, the news is surprising. In fact, just a year ago Meta announced several efforts and signed exclusive contracts with influencers to promote its podcast proposal. Now, it seems that the idea has not been very profitable, and the company has preferred to concentrate on other alternatives, leaving some of its suppliers up in the air.

“We are constantly evaluating the features we offer so we can focus on the most meaningful experiences, ” a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg via email.

An idea that goes the same way it started

Additionally, Facebook comments that it has no plans to inform creators about this move. In fact, the company has left the task of getting this information to publishers, and how they want to do it.

In recent years, we have seen the rapid growth of the podcast industry. For their part, companies like Spotify and Amazon have managed to get a large piece of the pie. The first, thanks to its contracts with exclusive shows that have turned out to be a success, and also for several purchases of companies dedicated to this sector. Meanwhile, Amazon bought the Wondery podcast network, as well as a hosting platform.

Meta couldn’t help but be drawn to this market. However, barely a year later they have decided that this is not the direction they want to take.

Mark Zuckerberg’s company has been quite focused in recent months on copying each of TikTok’s features. Apparently, Reels have proven to be a hit on both Facebook and Instagram, and with each passing week, we see Meta add more and more new features inspired by the short video giant.

In fact, Reels have managed to become 20% of the time spent by Instagram users, according to Bloomberg.