Generally speaking, people's ratings help others decide whether to invest their time and/or money in a certain product. When we see a low one, we quickly scroll through and search for something similar with a better star average. Spotify is making it easier to choose the next podcast to listen to by introducing a 5-star rating system. The change will be rolling out to users across its apps within the upcoming few days.

The Verge has reported that Spotify will be allowing users to rate podcasts soon. In a newsroom post, the company announced that the change will be rolling out to almost all users where podcasts are available. Over the coming days, listeners will start seeing a 5-star rating system in podcast pages. This allows them to express how good (or bad) a certain show is, after they listen to at least 30 seconds of it. Spotify will publicly display the average star rating of a certain show once there are ten or more. That's in addition to mentioning the number of people who have rated it.

This change is a very welcome one, as it enables users to get an idea of how successful a certain podcast is -- before investing their time into it. It also catches up with Apple Podcasts -- which has had a rating system for years now. The company states:

By introducing ratings, we’re making it easier for listeners to decide when to try out a new podcast that might be their next favorite. Because podcast ratings will serve as the first chance to draw new listeners in, they have the potential to build instant interest.

Spotify rolled out paid podcast subscriptions last month. With a public rating system, users will be able to better judge a paid podcast before subscribing to it. The new rating feature has already started rolling out. Make sure your app is up to date, and give it some days if you don't spot it yet.