That comparison is meant to hook into the accolades and popularity Spotify has earned through Discover Weekly, but Omny’s new product provides a different and more educational experience. The feed contains a promo clip before each show, followed by the most recent full episode. Users then vote a show up or down, which further personalizes what they receive in the future. In this way the Omny Discovery Feed might be compared to NPR One, which likewise provides a personalized feed of on-demand talk programming.
Whatever the comparison, it’s all about program discovery, which is a hot-button issue in podcasting.
“Curation is one of the main sticking points of on-demand media in general. The voting feature in the Discovery Feed has the unprecedented effect of creating a completely unique set of recommendations for each listener, with a total refresh of shows in their RSS feed each week,” said Sophie Kneebone, Omny Studio’s Podcast Manager.
Omny Studio is a podcast host, but today’s announcement promises that podcasts which live on other platforms are included in Discovery Feed.