The New York Times built a standalone app for audio journalism

The New York Times is doubling down on podcasts. The outlet announced Tuesday the launch of its long-awaited NYT Audio app. Available to download only on iOS at the moment, the software collects all of the Gray Lady’s audio journalism, including podcasts from the Athletic and Serial Productions, under one roof.

The Times first previewed the app back in 2021. At the time, it billed the software as a way to give its journalists more freedom to experiment outside of the limits imposed by platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. "This is a canvas for all of those audio stories the newsroom wants to tell but didn't quite have outlets for it before," Times Deputy Managing Editor Sam Dolnick told Axios at the time.

In addition to the outlet’s entire back catalog of podcasts, the NYT Audio will feature new content, including short audio pieces where journalists from The Times will retell how they reported a story they wrote recently. Home cooks can also look forward to listening to recipe advice from the outlet’s Cooking section. You need a digital News or All Access subscription to access the app. If you’re like me and only subscribe to the Cooking section, that won’t cut it, unfortunately. The good news is podcasts like The Daily and The Coldest Case in Laramie aren’t leaving Spotify, Pocket Casts and other platforms.

The release of the NYT Audio app comes as other companies that bet big on podcasts during the pandemic are reducing their investments. Spotify, most notably, cut 11 original podcasts, including the highly acclaimed How to Save a Planet, at the end of last year.