Across cultures, countries, and communities, the stories we share bring us together. And more often than not, it is the voices of the speakers that lend as much weight to the stories as the narratives themselves. For more than 15 years, Spotify’s global platform has empowered creators of all walks to share their work with audiences around the world. At its core, this has been made possible through technology that’s leveraged the power of audio to overcome barriers to access, borders, and distance. But with recent advancements, we’ve been wondering: Are there more ways we can bridge the language gap so that these voices can be heard worldwide?
Today, we’re excited to pilot Voice Translation for podcasts, a groundbreaking feature powered by AI that translates podcasts into additional languages—all in the podcaster’s voice.
This Spotify-developed tool leverages the latest innovations—one of which is OpenAI’s newly released voice generation technology—to match the original speaker’s style, making for a more authentic listening experience that sounds more personal and natural than traditional dubbing. A podcast episode originally recorded in English can now be available in other languages while keeping the speaker’s distinctive speech characteristics.
As part of the pilot, we’ve worked closely with podcasters DaxShepard, MonicaPadman, LexFridman, BillSimmons, and StevenBartlett to generate AI-powered voice translations in other languages—including Spanish, French, and German—for a select number of catalog episodes and future episode releases. We’re also looking forward to including other shows, such as Dax Shepard’s eff won with DRS, The Rewatchables from The Ringer,and Trevor Noah’s new original podcast, which launches later this year.
“By matching the creator’s own voice, Voice Translation gives listeners around the world the power to discover and be inspired by new podcasters in a more authentic way than ever before,” says Ziad Sultan, VP of Personalization. “We believe that a thoughtful approach to AI can help build deeper connections between listeners and creators, a key component of Spotify’s mission to unlock the potential of human creativity.”
Voice-translated episodes from pilot creators will be available worldwide to Premium and Free users. We’re starting by releasing an initial bundle of translated episodes in Spanish, with French and German rolling out in the coming days and weeks:
We’ll start rolling these out to users on the Now Playing View of supported episodes starting today. Can’t wait and want to hear the episodes right away? Head to the dedicated Voice Translations Hub, which we’ll update with even more voice-translated episodes over the coming weeks and months.
Today is just the beginning. We’re excited to empower creators to bring their storytelling to more listeners across the world. The creator and audience feedback from the pilot will provide important insights for future expansion, iterations, and innovations. As the number of people (100M+) regularly listening to podcasts on Spotify continues to grow, we’ll continue exploring new ways to overcome barriers to storytelling.
Stay tuned to Spotify for Podcasters as we aim to expand access for more creators and languages.
Bill Simmons is a man who wears many hats at Spotify. In addition to being the founder and Managing Director of The Ringer—which includes a website and podcast network dedicated to sports and pop culture—he’s also Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify, where he’s leveraging his experience at The Ringer building a high-revenue business through innovation and strong partnerships and applying it across the rest of the company. On top of that, Bill also hosts multiple podcasts, including The Rewatchables.
Featuring a rotating cast of writers and editors each week, the show explores classic films that people will never forget—mostly because they can’t seem to stop watching them. As one of The Ringer’s most popular podcasts, The Rewatchables is a shining example of the podcast network’s creative use of integrated brand partnerships.
Bill Simmons
This month, The Rewatchables is partnering with Disney to help promote the new film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. In addition to giving the movie prime placement through custom cover art and the show’s pre-roll ad, as part of this month’s programming, The Ringer is also dropping a special Indiana Jones episode, which will feature branded segments promoting the new movie.
Beyond working with The Ringer, Disney+ recently launched a new campaign with Spotify that drives awareness of Disney’s audio content in a delightful and immersive Spotify experience. Listeners across Germany, the U.K., Ireland, Italy, and Spain can now explore personalized in-app recommendations—as well as new genres and titles from the Disney+ soundtrack catalog—based on their listening habits. Plus, Spotify Free listeners receive audio, display, and video ads with a call to action to visit a branded in-app experience. Between these two brands, the connection runs deep.
For the Record sat down with Bill to dig deeper into the relationship between content and advertising, what makes a good advertising partnership, and how The Ringer makes these sponsorships sing.
We’ve heard you’re a big fan of theIndiana Jones franchise and are revisiting The Last Crusade in an upcoming Rewatchables episode. What excites you most about revisiting the franchise?
Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first great modern action movie I ever saw. It changed everything. I even remember where I saw it—the Cleveland Circle theater in Brookline, MA!
We waited and waited to do it on The Rewatchables for years because it’s one of the 10 most important movies of my lifetime. Indiana Jones is one of the best heroes ever, who fights the worst villains possible. And you’re talking about one of the biggest stars ever in Harrison Ford, who was working with two of the biggest behind-the-scenes creators ever in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, soundtracked by one of the best composers ever in John Williams.
So Indiana Jones lives forever after that. If it’s an Indiana Jones movie, I’m going. The difference between him and, say, Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt is that he always feels like a real guy with a little hero in him . . . not a hero pretending to be a real guy.
The Ringer is known for long-term deals with brand partners, like this month’s sponsorship with Disney. How do you approach these? What is the value in more integrated partnerships?
It may sound simple, but the most important thing is understanding what brands want to get out of the partnership. The brands that always succeed with us are the ones that tell us what their priorities are ahead of time.
One of The Ringer’s secret sauces is that we have multiple avenues to raise awareness for something—podcasts, the network itself, the website, our social handles, and our individual talent. But we also have a good creative team and we understand how to make things a little more special and unique.
In 2018, State Farm was blowing out a campaign around the state of the NBA season, so we turned it into a special event. We did a two-day Previewpalooza with a bunch of live video talk content, pre-taped shows, and upward of a dozen podcast episodes. State Farm is still a valuable partner all these years later, and I think that week is a big reason why.
Brands don’t want to just fork over money; they want to feel like you elevated their product and put some thought into what they value.
Are there any films you’re still dying to cover?
We are closing in on 300 episodes—which just seems like a crazy-high number—but I have a surprisingly meaty master list of the best Rewatchable movies we haven’t covered yet, which includes classics like Almost Famous. Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, Road House, Anchorman, and most of the Marvel movies.
There are so many times when I’ll get inspiration for an episode when I’m flipping channels, or I’m on an airplane, or I’m surfing around Netflix. It’s then that I realize, “Wait, I love this movie!” That happened with Casino Royale recently. So, I feel like we can get to 500 episodes pretty easily. From our first episode on the 20th anniversary of the noir film Heat to now, I’m so glad people still like listening to it because we love doing it.
Discover The Ringer’s impactful brand partnerships for yourself by streaming the latest episode of The Rewatchables.
“Stream On is about all the ways we are bringing Spotify to life and letting creators at all stages of their careers know that we are open for business,” Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek said. “We are focused on building the best home for them—a place where they can establish a career, thrive, and grow, and where the world can be inspired by their creativity. And that’s what we’ve been doing for almost 17 years: building, improving, and reimagining this home to better meet creator needs and help them chart new pathways to success.”
From new app functionality to a holistic one-stop shop for podcasting to more opportunities for artists to engage with their fans, Stream On further cements our commitment to the creative community.
“As we look to the future, we are excited to expand that ambition to even more creators across new formats. We’re enabling more creativity, discovery, and personalization than ever before by providing the best resources, support, and interactivity,” Daniel said.
Helping fans discover creators and artists
We’ve unveiled one of the biggest evolutions since Spotify’s inception: a new, dynamic interface on mobile built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans.
With this new experience, we’re giving fans an even more active role in the audio discovery process, and giving creators even more space to share their work. Powered by advanced recommendations, new visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design, the new interface is making discovering new audio easier than ever before and helping introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book. It’s all about closing the distance between creators and fans—and setting the stage for long-term, lasting connections that reach beyond viral success.
The new Spotify will roll out in waves to our 500 million+ monthly active users beginning today. Here’s what to expect:
Music, podcast, and audiobook previews across Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobooks feeds for listeners to sample before they play or save. We’re also bringing “shortcuts” to the top of listeners’ feeds—giving users easy access to some of their recent and favorite listens.
New feeds for discovery on Searchthat will allow users to quickly and easily explore personalized, short Canvas clips from tracks across some of your favorite genres. Users can easily save the song to a playlist, follow the artist, or share it with friends, all from one place. Looking for something else? Explore related genres using the hashtag within the feed, all with the goal of making discovery even easier.
We’re also bringing this feature to popular playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar, inviting users to preview tracks on a playlist before diving in.
Just like with music, we’re now serving Autoplay for Podcasts—when a podcast ends, another episode that fits the user’s tastes and is relevant will automatically start playing.
Smart Shuffle, the easiest way to breathe new life into custom curated playlists with just the tap of a button.
“Spotify recommendations drive close to half of all users’ streams. And when listeners decide to follow a creator, they listen to, on average, five times more of their music,” said GustavSöderström, Spotify Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer. “That’s why discoveries on Spotify—unlike many other platforms—give creators so much more than just a fleeting moment of viral fame. Those meaningful, long-term connections are a key part of what makes Spotify a platform for professional and aspiring artists.”
Supporting artist success through streaming
We also unveiled our annual music royalties report, Loud & Clear. The 2023 update demonstrates that more and more artists are finding success than ever before: The number of artists generating $1M+, as well as those generating $10,000+, has more than doubled over the past five years. Additionally, we estimate that the 50,000th highest-earning artist on Spotify generated more than $50,000 across all recorded revenue sources.
Loud & Clear also details how Spotify pays the vast majority of every dollar it generates for music—nearly 70%—back to the industry, and all-time Spotify payouts to music rights holders are approaching $40 billion.
Enabling audience development for artists through new and enhanced tools
We’re always building up our suite of tools to help artists find the fans who’ll love their music most. Here are a few of the new features they will soon find in the Campaigns section of Spotify for Artists:
Marqueeis a full-screen, sponsored recommendation of a new release that’s focused on reaching listeners who have shown interest in an artist’s music. On average, Marquee is 10 times more cost-effective at getting listeners to stream music on Spotify than ads are on the most popular social media platforms.
Discovery Mode is a tool through which artists and their teams identify priority songs, and Spotify will add that signal to the algorithms that shape personalized listening sessions. Today, Discovery Mode is directly available within Spotify for Artists, and is accessible to a wider range of artists and their teams, including thousands of independently distributed artists and labels.
Showcase is a mobile card on our brand-new home feed that will introduce an artist’s music—whether a new release or catalog—to likely listeners. We’re just starting to test Showcase with artists and labels, and will make it more widely available in the near future.
We also shared more details on the next revenue line we’ll enable to help artists grow: merchandise and live events.
New Concert and Merch Discovery tools will help make sure concertgoers never miss another show. Listeners will begin to see merch offers and concert listings in far more places across the app. If a show catches a fan’s eye, they can tap a new “interested” button to save the listing to their own calendar in the Live Events Feed. Users can adjust their location and browse concerts worldwide, all personalized to their taste.
Spotify is also expanding its Fans First program to include more artists, ensuring top listeners receive emails and notifications that give them special access to concert pre-sales and merch exclusives.
And we unveiled new features and product expansions that allow more artists to express themselves in new ways and build buzz among fans. These include:
Spotify Clips, which letsartists add 30-second videos to their artist profiles and album pages so fans can go deeper into their stories while they’re listening; and
CountdownPages, which provide dedicated space on an artist’s profile and Spotify’s Home feed for fans to pre-save albums, see exclusive videos, pre-order merch, preview tracklists, and watch the timer count down to a new release.
Reintroducing Spotify for Podcasters as our one-stop shop for creators
Podcast creators joined our executives onstage to showcase the reimagined Spotify for Podcasters.The site now brings together the best of Spotify’s podcast creator tools into a one-stop shop to create, manage, grow, and monetize podcast content, including:
Broader availability of Spotify-unique features like video podcasting, interactive episodes using Q&A and Polls, subscriptions, and robust analytics
Podcast previews, PodcastChapters, SpotifyLabs, and a new space for educational podcasting content
Megaphone, Spotify’s hosting solution for enterprise publishers, will be integrated into Spotify for Podcasters in the future. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media werejust signed on as two of the latest publishers.
We also looked back at the growth of the Spotify Audience Network (SPAN), our audio-first marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers, including monthly payouts to opted-in publishers.
Since we launched SPAN in 2021, it has grown by nearly 50%. Advertiser participation has since increased by 500%.
The number of independent and enterprise podcasters taking part in SPAN has grown eightfold in the last two years, with NPR being the latest publisher to join the network.
We’re partnering with Patreon,which will enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.
Announcing new and expanded Spotify Originals and exclusives
Spotify Original and exclusive podcasts saw much success in 2022, with Case 63, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Call Her Daddy taking the top spots of the Wrapped top global podcasts. And now that Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain is exclusively on our platform, Spotify has four of the top five biggest hits worldwide.
We’re expanding our catalog with new shows, including The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark. This latest title follows the Batman Unburied series and its characters in a brand-new story led by Phantom 4 and filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer DavidS. Goyer.
We’re also introducing more video podcasts, with Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh returning for a second season and an exclusive video podcast edition of the show. Drew Afualo’s podcast, The Comment Section, is also coming to Spotify exclusively starting April 5.
We’ve also entered into an exclusive video partnership with Markiplier to produce exclusive video episodes of DistractibleandGo! My Favorite Sports Team for Spotify beginning today. And with innovative partnerships on the way from Collab, Creative Juice, Get Engaged Media, Golden Child, and Karat to bring their creators’ videos to Spotify, as well as limited video series exclusively available on Spotify from Mindset Mentor, we’re looking forward to introducing millions of new listeners to video podcasts.
Welcoming creators and artists “home” to Spotify
Immediately following the presentation, we opened the doors of our campus in Los Angeles’ Arts District to creators for our “Play On” event to demo new products, hold workshops with top industry creators, and share insider knowledge on how best to use Spotify from the people who helped develop the tools at the company. To close out the activities, we’ll be hosting an all-female showcase to celebrate International Women’s Day.
“Today, there are more than 10 million creators on Spotify, with over half a billion listeners across 184 countries and markets,” Daniel noted. “Think about the massive potential that represents for creators. No matter where you are on your own creative journey within music, podcasts, or audiobooks. The potential to reach half a billion people. And that reach is about to become more powerful with what we’ve introduced today.”
Watch the 10-minute recap of the entire event below.
Forward-Looking Statements
The discussion above contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. For example, the words “will,” “expect,” “potential,” and similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and management’s belief about future events and trends, and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which may adversely affect our business and results of operations, including, but not limited to, our ability to attract and retain users and monetize our products and services; competition; risks associated with our international operations and growth; risks associated with our new products or services and our emphasis on long-term over short-term results; our ability to predict, recommend, and play content that our users enjoy; our ability to maintain the integrity of our technology structure and systems or the security of confidential information; and other risks as set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
It’s no secret that football fans have an insatiable appetite for the game and everything that surrounds it. And they’re often looking to go deeper—whether by digging into the stats of a player or team, entering a fantasy league, or connecting with other fans. The week leading up to the biggest game of the year (and the week coming out of it) is no exception.
Podcasts provide the perfect medium for rabid fans to get their football fill, hear from the experts, and reflect on the way sports influence society—and vice versa. Spotify has the home-field advantage on all sports and gaming talk with podcasts from The Ringer, live Spotify Greenroom discussions, and custom curations on our latest podcast editorial hub, The Roster.
Whether you’re creating or consuming content, Spotify has plenty for you to warm up with as you prepare for the Big Game.
Rounding out The Roster
The Roster is our new community for sports, betting, and gaming, and it has made its rookie debut on Spotify just in time for the Big Game. Like our other podcast editorial hubs, The Roster is a one-stop-shop destination for fans across many different communities, backgrounds, and sports to find the game-day discussions they’re looking for. Fans can find a five-episode weekly curation of the biggest sports conversations under Podcast Browse every Thursday. (This week, it includes Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray, “Tom Brady Speaks Post-Retirement for the First Time.”)
Plus, leading into the Big Game, The Roster’s four distinct shelves have been broken down into themes celebrating many different aspects of football:
Most Valuable Playlists: This shelf is dedicated to guest curations featuring talent from The Ringer, sports journalists, iconic athletes, and other voices within the sports and gaming communities. Make sure to check out The Ringer’s Bill Simmons’s ultimate guide to this weekend’s game.
Sports on Demand: This space updates weekly to provide the best podcast episodes that recap, forecast, and bring awareness to the moments, events, and athletes of the month. Of course, this week it’s football themed with curated episodes recapping previous games, including selections likeThe Man to Man with DB & AB (that’sAntoine Bethea and Darius Butler for the uninitiated), who speak to Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Beyond the Game: Fans of experiences that speak to the human side of sports can come here for stories of injustices, scandals, inequalities, testimonies, triumphs, breakthrough moments, and beyond. For example, this week you’ll find the Black Girls Talk Sports podcast episode “Celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day.”
Not a fan of football? No sweat. Tune back in ahead of upcoming basketball, baseball, and soccer championships and playoffs—as well as many more moments—for custom curations to help avid fans of all types wade through the stands to find sports and gaming content they’re craving.
The Ringer Shows Live From Los Angeles at Radio Row
Back in 2020, Spotify acquired The Ringer and with it, the very best podcasts from across the world of sports. So this week, The Ringer hosts will be recording special episodes from Radio Row across your favorite podcasts like TheRinger NFL Show; New York, New York; The Full Go with Jason Goff;The Ringer Fantasy Football Show; and The Ringer Gambling Show. Here are the shows to check out:
The Ringer NFL Show: Known for featuring a rotating panel of football experts, The Ringer NFL Show hits LA to bring fans the lastest news and insights ahead of the Big Game. Join hosts Kevin Clark, Nora Princiotti, Ben Solak, Steven Ruiz, Jason Goff, James Jones, Ryan Shazier, Mallory Rubin, and Kaelen Jones as they break down everything you need to know.
Throughout the past week, The Ringer’s hosts have been breaking down the action. On Tuesday, Kevin, Danny, and Ben discussed and shared their picks for Super Bowl LVI. On Wednesday, Jason James and Ryan shared their early thoughts, including James’s and Ryan’s personal playoff stories. Still to come this week, the hosts of The Ringer NFL Show will sit down with Maxx Crosby, Mike Evans, Matt Ryan, Zach Ertz, and more! Fans can also find episodes of The Ringer Fantasy Football Show in the same feed.
New York, New York: Veteran New York sports talk host JohnJastremski gives his unique take on all the big stories in the Big Apple and beyond, including interesting guest conversations, gambling picks, and reactions from you, the listener. On Radio Row, JJ will be joined by Victor Cruz, Mike Golic, Mack Hollins, Jerome Baker, Kevin Mawae, and more to bring the New York perspective to the LA standoff.
The Full Go with Jason Goff: Chicagoland’s own JasonGoff teamed up with The Ringer to put his unique spin on the Windy City sports scene. Featuring insights and analyses, interviews with friends and people who matter in town, and reactions from you, the listener, this is your new home for all things Chi. This week, Jason will speak with Greg Newsome and Anthony Walker for the podcast and will be live on Spotify Greenroom with additional guests.
The Ringer Gambling Show: The Ringer Gambling Show is here to help you place your bets on the biggest sports around the world. Join NFL Analyst WarrenSharp on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with guests ChrisVernon, BenSolak, and JoeHouse to guide you through the NFL betting landscape. Each week, they will cover everything from spreads, game totals, and parlays, to player props, futures, post-game reactions, and more. Tune in for everything you need to know about how to score big on game bets!
Get it all live on Greenroom
All week long, Spotify Greenroom and The Ringer hosts have been on the ground in Los Angeles broadcasting live from Radio Row—something that will continue well into Game Day.
On Sunday, Spotify Greenroom’s live coverage of one of the biggest days in sports kicks off with John Jastremski’s guide to the best bets, most entertaining props, and absolute locks for the action ahead with The Ringer Gambling Show. When the game ends, tune in live for a one-two punch of post-game reaction, breaking down everything that happened on the field . . . and everything that happened off of it.
John Jastremski and Jason Goff have the on-field action covered with The Ringer’s Super Bowl Postgame Show, while The Press Box’s Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker will deliver their takes on everything besides the football—the commercials, the announcers, and, of course, the halftime show.
And for a little lighter take before pregame kicks off, check out the football-themed episode of Spotify Greenroom’s Dating Makeover, featuring The Ringer‘s DannyHeifetz as he joins show host JaredFreid to talk love and football.
Not sure where to begin? Tune into The Ringer NFL Show ahead of—and after—the Big Game.
Make way for wrestling’s newest double threat. The Ringer, a Spotify Studio, has tapped World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to form an audio partnership. Together they will collaborate to develop original content, and existing content will become exclusive to Spotify.
The Ringer was founded by Bill Simmons in 2016 and acquired by Spotify in 2020. It’s famous for creating an innovative blend of sports, pop culture, politics, and tech content for its website, podcast network, and scripted and unscripted video production house. And now, together with WWE Original Podcasts, it will take wrestling fans as close to the action as possible.
“The Ringer is the premier destination for sports fandom, and WWE has used amazing storytelling and iconic characters to establish a global audience of loyal and passionate fans, making this partnership a perfect match,” said Simmons. “As a lifelong WWE fan, I couldn’t be more excited to work with them to take a fresh perspective on their most iconic moments and superstars, and leverage Spotify’s global scale to share content that we believe everyone will enjoy.”
The WWE team echoes the excitement. “Bill and his team at The Ringer consistently find ways to create premium content that drives conversation and appeals to fans of sports, entertainment and pop culture,” said Nick Khan, WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer. “We believe this collaboration will deliver a podcast slate that excites existing fans while also introducing WWE content to the millions of Spotify listeners.”
Here’s a peek at exciting new audio coming to Spotify and The Ringer.
Kicking Off Summer Content
Fans of the popular podcast The Masked Man Show with David Shoemaker can look forward to a refreshed take on the show under a new name—The Ringer Wrestling Show. The podcast will also increase in its publishing frequency and programming.
But that’s not all. Stay tuned for a new narrative series produced by The Ringer’s own Bill Simmons, as well as live conversations with our hosts on Spotify Greenroom after major WWE pay-per-view events. The final rooms will become podcasts for The Ringer Wrestling Show.
Kicking off the partnership, The Ringer will be ringside at WWE’s SummerSlam at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There, David will be creating new episodes of The Ringer Wrestling Show, and WWE personality Evan Mack will make his Ringer debut with his new podcast MackMania. WWE devotees can also expect a live conversation on Spotify Greenroom following Saturday’s event.
Start getting in fighting shape for the WWE SummerSlam and catch up on The Masked Man Show (soon to be The Ringer Wrestling Show) now.
This year, we saw a shift in the world of sports as games, matches, and championships continued—largely without the spectators. But silent stadiums don’t only affect the fans; they also affect the athletes. Just ask American tennis player SloaneStephens, whom we spoke to in the most recent episode of our podcast Spotify: For the Record. “Not having fans has played a really big role in a lot of people’s wins and losses—because before, you could rely on the crowd a lot more, and now you can’t at all. There’s nothing there. You have to create your own energy, and that’s really difficult.”
Traveling during this time has also brought some new challenges, especially when it comes to finding the foods that help Sloane bring her A game. Prior to the pandemic, it was easy for the athlete to venture to restaurants and find diverse menu items that are a part of her healthy diet. But now, with many places closed or offering limited items, she has to plan ahead. “If I don’t get a good meal the night before my match, it worries me, wondering if I had enough of a certain food or vegetables. I didn’t realize how much of a big part food played in my mood and my competition vibe,” explains Sloane.
The pandemic hasn’t just affected the champion’s tennis game—it’s impacted her work off the court as well. The Sloane Stephens Foundation, which seeks to educate and encourage young people about healthy lifestyles, proper nutrition, and participation in physical fitness activities, has learned to adapt its activities into successful online events.
“We’ve had to change a lot. We did our summer camp virtually, and we had a really good time with that. We started doing a lot of virtual fitness classes through Zoom so that our kids could see their teachers and coaches,” shares Sloane. “But I think it’s honestly for the best. The kids actually love it. And it gives them another outlet, which is also a really good thing.”
In this episode, we also talk to U.S. sports podcaster and The Ringer founder, BillSimmons. Simmons shares how his team reacted to the constant changes in the sports landscape and what it’s been like for sports fans during this time. As he puts it, rooting for teams in your living room is quite different from experiencing the moment with people in a crowd. “Having that removed for seven months has been pretty disorienting. And it’s not the way we’re meant to be.”
In addition to Sloane and Simmons, this week’s episode shares perspectives from other commentators in the sports industry, including former India Women’s Cricket captain AnjumChopra, Mexican sports commentator MarionReimers, GIANT podcast host Owen Blackhurst, On the Whistle podcast host ZaynNabbi, and British sports commentator NickHeath. We also dug into the science of silence in sports with Texas Tech professor GlennCummins.
To the excitement of sports fans, many major athletic leagues are anticipating returning for their seasons this month—meaning a renewed lineup of athletic content and news. So to help fans keep up with all these games, Spotify is throwing the first pitch for Daily Sports,a new playlist designed to entertain listeners with a mix of quick sports commentary and personalities alongside familiar personalized music recommendations.
Daily Sports joins our two other mixed-media playlists, Your Daily Drive and Daily Wellness, to provide you with great audio content at any point in your day. With the addition of Daily Sports, fans will only need to head to one place to keep up with the latest sports news, commentary, and personalities while also enjoying their favorite tracks. Our dedicated team of experts curate the MVP of sports podcasts and shows, and our unique algorithms create a personalized mix of music to get you in the mood.
Stay up to date on the latest games, trades, and news with the very best of sports commentary with curated (and in some cases, exclusive) content from The Ringer, including audio intros from the one and only Bill Simmons. Other highlights include segments from Sports News Minute with Larry Brown, ESPN Daily, The Lead,and more—all in one place. Plus, Daily Sports updates every single day with fresh takes and music just for you. It’s designed to fit seamlessly into your routine and provide you with the best way to not only get up to speed, but to stay in the know on all things sports—especially as all major sports play during the same season.
Daily Sports is available to both Free and Premium users in the U.S. Fans of any team or league can catch it on your Made For You hub or the Sports hub on mobile and desktop today.
To date, Spotify users have been able to ask Amazon Alexa to play music, like their Discover Weekly or Today’s Top Hits playlists, but not podcasts. But for U.S. Amazon Alexa customers, that changes today. Now, Spotify Free and Premium users in the U.S. will be able to ask Alexa to play their favorite podcasts as well.
First, make sure to set Spotify as your default podcast and music provider in your Alexa settings. Then, all you have to do is call out, “Alexa, play The Joe Budden Podcast on Spotify,” or whatever podcast you want,to start enjoying podcasts on your Spotify account. It’s a seamless way to listen to your favorite podcasts, no hands needed.
In addition to requesting a specific podcast, users will be able to ask to restart an episode and pick up from where they left off in their Spotify app with Alexa just by saying, “Alexa, play the [podcast name] podcast. They can also request the latest episode, navigate to the previous or next episode, and even navigate by podcast time frame.
Try playing some of these new podcasts with your Alexa device:
Is Home Alone a Christmas movie? Did the Giants just make the worst draft pick in NFL history? Was the eighth season of Games of Thrones actually the best? These topics, and more, are up for debate on Bill Simmons’ latest podcast, The Hottest Take, streaming exclusively on Spotify.
You might recognize Simmons as host of the popular podcast The Bill Simmons Podcast, or from The Ringer—a network of over 30 podcasts spanning all things sports and pop culture.In his latest project, The Hottest Take,Simmons and his rotating cast of co-hosts lay out controversial topics from the worlds of sports, movies, TV, food, music, and the internet—in bite-sized, 15-minute-or-less conversations.
Joining him behind the mic will be Binge Modeco-hosts Jason Concepcion and Mallory Rubin, House of Carbshost Joe House, The Watchpodcastco-host Chris Ryan, The Big Picturehost Sean Fennessey, and Bachelor Partyhost Juliet Litman, along with other favorites from The Ringer network.
Check out the trailer for The Hottest Take, here, and make sure to follow so you don’t miss an episode when it launches Monday, September 16 on Spotify.
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