Spotify might be the frontrunner when it comes to music streaming, but it's still a new player in the world of podcasting. There are plenty of issues that the company needs to work on to improve the experience, but today podcasts on Spotify are starting to get a little more interactive thanks to a new test that lets podcasters connect to their audiences through polling.

When a podcaster creates a poll, it will show up on the bottom of the episode page as well as in the Now Playing UI. Both the creator and the listeners can see the responses in real time, which is cool, but it doesn't seem all that helpful for pre-recorded podcast episodes. Spotify is billing this as a way for listeners to share feedback and opinions that can enable hosts to serve them better in the future. I can see it being a handy tool for picking what topic to cover next, or which guest to invite on a show.

Polls appear on the episode page and in the Now Playing interface.

Right now, this is still just an experiment. Polls will be visible to 90% of users listening to some Spotify Originals and Exclusives like The Rewatchables and Crime Countdown in the coming days. The feature will be available on iOS and Android at the same time.

Apart from podcasts, Spotify has a ton of other new tweaks in the works as well, like the long-awaited karaoke mode. While polls in podcasts are sure to be useful additions, it's unlikely they will make a big impact on Spotify's success with podcasts. The company is facing new competition from Amazon now, and Jeff Bezos even got Will Smith on board.

Source: Spotify