Facebook to Launch Podcast Publishing Platform Next Week

Following in the footsteps of Apple and Spotify, Facebook will launch its own podcast platform offering next week, based on emails seen by The Verge.

According to the messages, which were sent to podcast page owners, Facebook will roll out the podcast service on June 22, and content creators will be able to link their show's RSS feed to Facebook, which will generate News Feed posts for all subsequent episodes.

"Facebook will be the place where people can enjoy, discuss, and share the podcasts they love with each other," said the company in the emails.

Podcast episodes will appear in a forthcoming "Podcasts" tab, which was teased by the company in April. Facebook will also offer podcast creators an optional feature that lets listeners create clips of shows of up to one minute in length for sharing.

Facebook isn't asking for a cut of any revenue that podcasters generate, but the terms of service state that Facebook reserves the right to make "derivative works" with content distributed on its platform.

The move follows growing interest in podcasts as another potential market of original content, with Apple recently launching its own paid subscriptions service in the Podcasts app. Apple takes 30% of all subscription revenue that creators generate in their first year on the platform, and after that, Apple takes a 15% cut.

Spotify has invested heavily in deals to exclusively distribute podcast shows in recent years, and offers a similar podcast subscription feature to Apple, except the streaming service doesn't collect revenue on any of the content it hosts.