Content Access
For creators who care about making sure their private, patron-only content stays that way, there are a few important protections built into the Acast integration.
First, whenever your universal link is clicked by a user attempting to subscribe in a podcasting app, it first asks the user to authenticate to show that they are an active patron. If they are, it provides them with their unique feed directly in their chosen app. If they are a fan who is not a patron, it takes them directly to your pledge checkout page. So it’s totally fine for you or your patrons to share that universal link - it works for both patrons to get their content, and non-patrons to join your membership!
Acast also has protections built in to reduce the risk of widespread, unauthorized sharing of an individual feed. If Acast detects that an individual feed has downloading an individual episode an unusually high number of times, it will switch that patron to a new feed and ask them to resubscribe using the same universal link. It’s a gentle message that just asks the user to refresh the feed and doesn’t refer to or assume any wrongdoing by the patrons themselves.
You can also rest assured that any patrons who cancel will not have ongoing access to your existing and future content. After a patron cancels and their entitlement period ends (at the end of that month or year), their feed will automatically no longer be valid. Note though that depending on the user’s settings in their podcasting app, they may have downloaded past episodes to their device that would still be accessible, which is the nature of how RSS works on user devices.
We’ll cover more about content protection, the patron experience, and the setup process in our creator workshop about the Acast integration on Thursday December 17 at 11a PDT.
Register here for the free workshop.
A replay will be available if you can’t attend live.