Spotify is broadening its monetization program for creators and rolling out new tools for video podcasters, aiming to strengthen its position against YouTube and Netflix in the rapidly growing market.

The Swedish streaming company announced Wednesday that it has invested over $10 billion in the podcast industry over the past five years to boost creator earnings, increase engagement, and expand infrastructure.

Spotify is now lowering the requirements to join its monetization program, a year after the initiative was first launched.

“Since launching the program, monthly video podcast consumption on Spotify has nearly doubled,” Spotify’s ⁠global head of podcast, Roman ‌Wasenmuller, said in a media briefing.

“The average Spotify podcast user streams twice as many video shows per month as they did ‍before the launch.”

The move comes amid growing competition among platforms to attract video podcast creators, driven by rising demand for this content and the higher engagement it generates.

Spotify creators can now join the monetization program with just 1,000 engaged listeners, 2,000 hours of content consumed in the past 30 days, and three published episodes—down from the previous thresholds of 2,000 listeners, 10,000 hours, and 12 episodes.

The company said creators in the program can earn from ads on free tiers and other platforms, while video creators gain an extra revenue stream, receiving direct payments from Spotify when premium subscribers watch their videos without ads.