Dateline podcast shows are now offering a subscription option on Apple Podcasts, giving subscribers early access to new episodes, as well as bonus episodes every month.

Dateline NBC says that podcasts offer a number of benefits over TV shows …

Dateline podcast subscription

Digiday reports on the new subscription deal.

The company says that the number of Apple Podcast subscribers has increased threefold since June 2021.

The offering will give subscribers an ad-free listening experience across Dateline’s roster of nine podcasts and showcasts, one-week early access to new episodes and series and bonus episodes every month. The subscription costs $2.99 a month or $29.99 a year, with a seven-day free trial option.

Subscribers will get exclusive access to a new update on a story first told 10 years ago.

A deeper dive

The broadcaster says that podcasts allow them to take a deeper dive than the TV show, especially when they can offer an ad-free experience.

The first perk Dateline podcast subscribers will get is a bonus episode from correspondent Josh Mankiewicz on Sept. 1. The episode is an update on the disappearance of a Louisiana college student, a decade after the original Dateline episode aired. 

Subscribers will get early access to the first two episodes of Dateline’s tenth podcast, called “Internal Affairs” and hosted by Mankiewicz, a week before its official debut on Sept. 20. They will continue to get an episode a week early for the rest of the series.

Apple recently started publishing podcast charts, and these show the popularity of Dateline.

“Every single episode of Internal Affairs is about as long as a Dateline hour” with commercials and credits removed, Mankiewicz said. “That’s one of the great things about podcasts. You can give [the audience] all the details” […]

The podcasts give “us an opportunity to tell stories in a different way. In an expanded way. In a way where we’re not beholden to a network clock with a certain number of minutes and a certain number of commercial breaks. It gives us a little bit more freedom,” said Dateline executive producer Liz Cole.

If you’re looking for new inspiration in your podcast selections, Apple highlighted the most popular shows at the time the charts launched, earlier this month.

Dateline is one of the most popular channels on Apple Podcasts, the Apple spokesperson said. As of Friday afternoon, Dateline was no. 8 on Apple’s podcast chart, and no. 3 in the true crime category. Dateline, which begins its 31st season next month, is NBC’s longest-running primetime series.

  • US: Morbid with Alaina Urquhart and Ashleigh Kelley, Smartless, Something Was Wrong with Tiffany Reese, Fed Up with Emily Gellis, and Marc Smerling’s brand-new series, Crooked City: Youngstown, OH, part of Sony’s The Binge, round out the top five subscriber shows in the US at launch;
  • UK: The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, No Such Thing as a Fish, which launched Fish Club last month, is the second most popular subscriber show in the UK, followed by The Totally Football Show with James Richardson from The Athletic, Morbid, and Kermode & Mayo’s Take, which debuted to number one when it launched with Extra Takes in May;
  • Canada: Following Morbid, Smartless, and Fed Up, Canadian True Crime with Kristi Lee is the fourth most popular subscriber show, and BBC’s Global News Podcast rounds out the top five subscriber shows in Canada at launch;
  • Australia: Casefile True Crime with Casey, The Deep with Zoe Marshall is the second-most popular subscriber show in Australia followed by Morbid, Australian True Crime with Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb, and 7am with Ruby Jones from Schwartz Media.