Set up subscription benefits

On Apple Podcasts we want to create an integrated experience with a single show page for everyone — subscribers and free listeners. If you’re a member of the Apple Podcasters Program, after you complete your agreement, you can add shows with subscription benefits like ad-free listening, subscriber-only content, and early access to content.

In most cases, you’ll begin by submitting an RSS feed or choosing from one of your existing shows. If you work with a hosting provider who supports Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, refer to their documentation for how to submit subscriber audio to Apple Podcasts.

If your hosting provider doesn’t support Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, you’ll want to create an episode with subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts Connect before you publish a free listener version on your RSS feed. This ensures the correct rules are observed between free and subscriber-only access.

The guide below to outlines how to seamlessly link subscriber and free audio:

• Ad-free episodes
• Subscriber-only shows
• Subscriber-only episodes
• Early access episodes
• Archive access episodes

Watch a video about how to set up your episodes for subscribers.

Ad-free episodes

Subscribers will get premium versions of the same episodes delivered in your RSS feed without the ads. Follow the steps below to create an ad-free experience for new episodes. To add this subscription benefit to an existing episode, learn how to add subscription benefits to published episodes.

1. Submit an RSS feed or select an existing, RSS-based show.
2. Create a new episode in Apple Podcasts Connect.
3. Click Add Subscriber Audio and select the ad-free subscriber audio file that matches the episode.
4. Publish the ad-supported version of the episode in your RSS feed. Choose one of the following to link your RSS episode to your subscriber premium audio in Apple Podcasts Connect:
   • Use the Apple Podcasts Episode ID, found on the episode details page in Apple Podcasts Connect, as your episode GUID <guid> in your RSS feed.
   • Include the same episode number <itunes:episode>, season number <itunes:season>, and episode type <itunes:episodeType> as the episode you created in Apple Podcasts Connect.
5. Episodes will only link on the first crawl. After Apple has crawled your RSS feed, confirm both audio files are linked to the episodes in Apple Podcasts Connect on the episode detail page.

Apple Podcasts will serve the ad-free version to subscribed listeners. Followers and everyone else will see the ad-supported episode.

Subscriber-only shows

Only your subscribers will have access to this show. You can restrict access on all episodes to paid subscribers, or you can make a few episodes available to everyone.

1. Create a show in Apple Podcasts Connect.
2. Create an episode in Apple Podcasts Connect.
3. Choose whether to make it available to everyone or only to paid subscribers, and upload subscriber audio for your episode.

Subscriber-only episodes

Subscribers will get premium episodes which aren’t available in your RSS feed.

1. Submit an RSS feed or select an existing, RSS-based show.
2. Create an episode in Apple Podcasts Connect. Select your Episode Type (Full or Bonus) and restrict it to paid subscribers.

Early access episodes

Subscribers will get episodes before they are made available in the RSS feed to everyone else. To set up early access:

1. Submit an RSS feed or select an existing, RSS-based show.
2. Create an episode in Apple Podcasts Connect with an early access episode release date and restrict it to paid subscribers. Put the date the RSS version of the episode will come out into the Original Release Date field to make sure your Early Access benefits display on Apple Podcasts.
3. Publish the free version of the episode in your RSS feed at a later date. Be sure to do one of the following in your RSS feed:
   • Use the Apple Podcasts Episode ID, found on the episode details page in Apple Podcasts Connect, as your episode GUID <guid>.
   • Include the same episode number <itunes:episode>, season number <itunes:season>, and episode type <itunes:episodeType> as the episode you created in Apple Podcasts Connect.
4. After Apple has crawled your RSS feed, confirm both audio files are linked to the episodes in Apple Podcasts Connect on the episode detail page.

Archive access

Subscribers will have access to episodes which are no longer available to free listeners. To give your subscribers archive access:

1. Submit an RSS feed or select an existing, RSS-based show.
2. Create an episode in Apple Podcasts Connect with subscriber audio and restrict it to paid subscribers.
3. Episodes will only link on the first crawl. Publish the free version of the audio in your RSS feed. Be sure to do one of the following in your RSS feed:
   • Use the Apple Podcasts Episode ID, found on the episode details page in Apple Podcasts Connect, as your episode GUID <guid>.
   • Include the same episode number <itunes:episode>, season number <itunes:season>, and episode type <itunes:episodeType> as the episode you created in Apple Podcasts Connect.
4. After Apple has crawled your RSS feed, confirm both audio files are linked to the episodes in Apple Podcasts Connect on the episode detail page.
5. When you’re ready for your archive content to become subscriber-only, remove the episode from your RSS feed.