Tag: audio podcasts

All the Ways It’s Even Easier To Discover Your Next Favorite Podcast on Spotify

May 28, 2025

Spotify is all about bringing you closer to the voices and stories you love. That means that finding your next favorite podcast should feel as effortless and personal as getting a top recommendation from a friend. And it’s why we’re also helping creators share their unique shows with people around the world.

Building on that vision, we’ve started rolling out new mobile features that make it even easier to find, follow, and fall in love with the latest podcasts, audio, and video. This is a win for creators, too, as it gives them new ways to reach even more audiences around the globe.

Unlock your next podcast find on Home 

One of our top-requested features from podcast listeners is the ability to find new podcasts they’ll love. That’s why we’re bringing discovery front and center on Home for users who love podcasts. Just below your shortcuts, you’ll start seeing recommendations for podcasts and video podcasts ready to be played or saved, making exploring new shows and episodes easier and more immersive. And for some recommendations, we might even add a quick note on why we think it’s a good fit for you, to help make bold picks feel more accessible.

It’s all designed to help you strike the perfect balance between what you already love and what you’ll love next while giving creators more chances to connect with listeners like you. We’ve already begun rolling out these updates globally, and early feedback shows that more users are engaging, saving, and liking, telling us that they’re discovering new podcasts they enjoy.

Stay on top of the shows you love

Ever find yourself searching different parts of Spotify to find the latest episodes from the podcasts you follow? We know this has proved to be challenging. So we’ve made it simpler: We’re bringing all of your favorite podcast episodes from the shows you follow into one place within the Podcasts Following feed. With this new update, you can effortlessly stay plugged in and up-to-date with the creators you love most. 

This feature gives you a dedicated place to catch all the latest releases from the podcasts you follow—all in one easy-to-access feed within your main Podcast feed on Home. We’ll continue to explore new ways to make this space even better. So whether you’re tuning in for entertainment, inspiration, or discovery, there’s always something fresh and relevant waiting for you.

More ways to dive deeper and engage

Spotify is the platform with your favorite music, podcasts, and (where available) audiobooks all in one place. Have you ever watched a podcast and wanted to save that song they just mentioned or that book the host recommended? Or maybe you were listening to your favorite author talk about the music or books that inspired them, and wanted to save those for later. Now we’re making it easier to explore across formats, too.

Rolling out globally in the coming weeks, the new “In this episode” section lets creators link directly to other content they mention in their podcasts that’s also on Spotify—from other podcasts and songs to audiobooks, playlists, and more—all in one place on the episode page. It’s perfect for fans who want to dive deeper and for creators working across formats. 

But wait, there’s more. We’re enhancing our comments experience with threads based on your feedback. Creators can now deepen conversations with users with threaded replies and easily express themselves with emoji reactions. They’ll continue to be able to control the experience through their Spotify for Creators account, where they can select their preferred settings on which comments appear or opt out of their shows or specific episodes from the experience.

Every update is designed to bring fans and creators closer together through discovery, conversation, music, podcasts, and audiobooks that resonate. We’re excited to keep building features that help you find, follow, and fall in love with the shows, while giving creators more ways to grow and connect with their communities. 

Spotify Introduces Plays, a New Way To See What Content Is Resonating With Podcast Fans

May 6, 2025

Updated May 16, 2025: We always aim to provide the best Spotify experience, and sometimes that means learning and adjusting as we go. Based on early signals, we’re evolving how play counts show up across Spotify. To help celebrate growth, plays will be presented as incremental milestones instead of precise figures, beginning once an episode hits 50K plays. Creators will still see their precise numbers in their private dashboards. While plays are already available to all creators and publishers in Spotify for Creator and Megaphone, this experience continues to be a gradual rollout across the Spotify app. For more on the latest, read here.

At Spotify, we always seek ways to connect users with their next favorite podcast episode. We also work to give creators a deeper understanding of how content resonates with audiences. That’s why we’re introducing plays, a new podcast metric designed to help users see, directly within the app, which podcast episodes are most popular with fans.

For creators, plays are a helpful addition to their existing metrics and offer a more comprehensive view of the scale of all episodes on our platform. This will be another invaluable source of insight as they look to optimize their content for success, so they can continue to build a loyal fan base that comes back week after week.

Plays will capture engagement across audio and video content on Spotify, reflecting the number of times people have actively listened to or watched any episode. 

Starting this week, plays will be reflected across the Spotify app and in the Spotify for Creators and Megaphone dashboards.

A closer look at plays for creators

For creators, plays will be a key metric on the home dashboard, show overview, and individual episode analytics pages, offering a near-immediate snapshot of how content is performing based on active engagement. And because we want to give creators more comprehensive insight into the scale and depth of their audience, we’re also making consumption hour metrics available to all creators in Spotify for Creators, no matter where they’re hosted.

Existing monetization eligibility criteria and payout calculations for creators and publishers will remain unchanged. They will continue to be determined by streams and the podcast advertising industry standard of at least 60 seconds of engagement. For more details about how plays will work for creators and publishers, check out the latest on the Spotify for Creators blog.

Ultimately, plays will offer creators and their fans a clear way to measure which podcast episodes capture the most attention on Spotify. We’re always working to bring better insights to creators, foster greater discovery for people, and help content reach even wider audiences. Stay tuned for more.

From Audio to Video, Spotify’s $100 Million Payout Fuels Creator Success Stories

April 28, 2025

Podcasts have become a cornerstone of the Spotify experience, evolving from a niche interest to a cultural phenomenon. As the format continues to grow, we’re seeing an exciting trend emerge: the rise of video podcasts. At Spotify, we’re committed to supporting creators across all formats, and we’re thrilled to announce a significant milestone in that journey.

For the first time, we’re revealing that Spotify paid out more than $100 million to podcast publishers and podcasters worldwide in the first quarter of 2025 alone. This figure reflects our deep commitment to the creator economy and underscores Spotify’s position as a leading platform for audio and video creators alike.

We’re expanding creators’ reach to a global audience, providing flexible earning options regardless of format, and offering tools to capture and engage a loyal fanbase. Whether a creator is just starting out or looking to scale an existing show, Spotify provides the resources and opportunities to thrive.

For fans, this translates to an even richer library of diverse content and the unique ability to seamlessly switch between listening and watching their favorite podcasts on Spotify.

A platform for growth and innovation

This payout encompasses both ad-based revenue and revenue generated through the Spotify Partner Program, which launched earlier this year in select markets. The program is designed to provide creators with more ways to monetize their content, offering audience-driven payouts from Spotify Premium video engagement and the ability to monetize via ads in Spotify Free and on all other podcast listening platforms.

We’re seeing positive signals that this approach is resonating with creators. The Spotify Partner Program is driving growth, with total earnings for participating creators up 23% month-over-month from January to February, and 29% month-over-month from February to March. We’ve also seen a significant increase in video podcast adoption, with active monthly video podcasts up 28% since the program launched.

Recognizing the power of podcasts to reach valuable consumers, some of the world’s largest advertisers are booking campaigns through the Spotify Audience Network as part of the Spotify Partner Program, including McDonald’s, Google, and Chelsea FC, providing creators with even more monetization opportunities.

The creator perspective

The real impact of these opportunities is best illustrated by the success of individual creators. Shows like Your Mom’s House with Christina P. and Tom Segura and The Rest Is Politics: US have experienced a remarkable surge in engagement since joining the Spotify Partner Program, with weekly consumption up more than 45%. Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast has also seen significant gains, with weekly consumption up 12% since joining the program and total consumption time up 30% from January to March. Similarly, Two Hot Takes has seen weekly consumption grow by 12% since introducing video on Spotify. But these numbers only scratch the surface. Here’s what participants are saying about the program:

  • Tony Pastor, co-founder of Goalhanger: “Since we added video to our shows on Spotify, we’ve been delighted by the growth we’ve seen across the Goalhanger network. It’s clear that our audiences love watching their favourite hosts and we’re really encouraged by the engagement levels we’ve seen so far.”
  • Christiana Brenton, Chief Revenue Officer at FlightStory and Co-Founder of FlightStory Studio: “Since joining the Spotify Partner Program, we’ve seen weekly consumption grow by over 45%. That kind of trajectory is exceptional, and it speaks to the power of a global platform that is committed to creator success. Spotify has opened up a new competitive revenue stream and allows us to tap into a deeply engaged audience.”

Ultimately, Spotify is committed to building a sustainable ecosystem where creators can thrive. This $100 million payout is just one step in that journey. We’ll continue to invest in new tools, resources, and programs to support creators in all formats, and we’re excited to see what the future holds for podcasting on Spotify.