The feature that I'm looking for in a podcast service (especially one that calls itself "Like Netflix") is ad-free content. I'd be happy to pay a monthly fee not to hear yet another ad for the same darned things over and over and over again on my favorite podcasts.
"I want to talk to you all about squarespace, I was updating my squarespace on my Bolden Branch sheets on my Casper mattress waiting for my delivery from BlueApron.com listening to my audiobook from Audible.com about to take a sh*t on my Squatty Potty" [0]
But yeah, I really hate hearing about Squarespace, Simple Contacts, RX Bar, Mac Weldon, Hello Fresh/Blue Apron, Butcherbox, Betterment, Privacy, Rocket Mortgage, and the whole lot.
Agreed. I'm thoroughly conditioned not to tolerate commercials any more and when one comes on, I turn off the source. This is why I don't listen to podcasts any more. If Netflix had commercials, I'd drop my subscription yesterday.
It’s even easier now that the iOS podcast app lets you choose a skip duration for the forward and backward buttons— I’ve got mine set to skip 45 seconds forward and 15 back.
Yes, Overcast, at least, lets you configure your prev/next buttons and I have mine set to 15 seconds. I know based on the podcast about how many times I need to mash the next button when I hear "We are sponsored this week by...."
Its not too hard, but it is still something that I'd pay to avoid. I spend an hour or so rowing in the mornings, and hitting the skip-forward on my headphones takes me out of my rhythm.
They have a caveat "Some shows record their own ads which Stitcher cannot remove". It would be nice if they marked which shows were actually ad-free. It would be even nicer if they put auto-skip markers over the "unremovable" ads. We've had that technology for TV for more than a decade (comskip.exe, MythTVs comflag, etc).
