Tag: Podcasting

Celebrating the Creators and Fans of 2023 With Wrapped for Podcasters

November 29, 2023

Today we kicked off 2023 Spotify Wrapped, our annual campaign that brings creators and fans together to share their love of all things audio. And as Wrapped for Podcasters celebrates its fifth year, we’re thrilled to bring the love, excitement, and data stories to more creators than ever.

2023 Wrapped for Podcasters is our way to recognize the achievements across our podcast creator ecosystem and offer a unique deep dive into user behavior, Spotify stats, listening trends, and more from the past year.

“Wrapped is Spotify’s biggest campaign of the year and has become its own moment around the world,” Anna Sian, Head of Marketing at Spotify for Podcasters, tells For the Record. “And from a creator’s audience growth to other milestones they’ve unlocked throughout the year, it’s a trove of really valuable information on their trends from the past year. It’s as personalized as a campaign can possibly get.”

A Really Good Year.

There’s a lot to celebrate this year with podcasts. In 2023, more than 300 million listeners discovered their new favorite podcasts, and they were engaged, responding to more than 14 million creator polls. Of the shows receiving a podcaster Wrapped this year, over one-third were created in 2023, with more than 760 million minutes recorded overall.

At Spotify, we’ve also been busy: doubling down on giving creators more data and better tools. We’ve increased our focus on creator education throughout the year so more podcasters understand ways to grow their show and be successful. “With Spotify for Podcasters programs like Masterclass and the release of our recent Fan Study report,” explains Anna, “our goal is to help creators learn from their peers and develop strong bonds within the podcasting community.”

All About Growth

“It may come as no surprise that podcast creators are obsessed with their shows’ growth,” Anna says. “They work hard to perfect every episode, so they want to know their show is resonating with fans and finding new listeners. Their unwavering dedication to understanding listener data is the driving inspiration behind Wrapped for Podcasters.”

Like previous years, the core experience is rooted in a microsite that delivers a personalized experience to each podcaster, with listener data and creator trends framed in the context of the past year. Top episodes, most-shared episodes, average podcast rating, global listener stats, and year-over-year growth are all there for creators to dig into.

This year we’re adding even more tools and insights to Wrapped for Podcasters, including the top music genre streamed by a show’s podcast listeners and a new data story featuring fan engagement insights that includes a quiz around your most-talked-about episode.

It’s the Journey

“Listening to a podcast is like having a creator as your best friend,” explains Anna. “They’re with you on your commute, while you’re washing dishes, making you laugh or sharing some tears with you. Wrapped for Podcasters provides the perfect opportunity for creators to acknowledge their fans who have come along on their journeys, stuck around, and become a part of the conversation.”

Dig into a world of data and read all about it in the Spotify for Podcasters blog.

Podcasters Can Better Connect to Their Audiences With the Insights From Our Latest Fan Study

November 9, 2023

We know that podcasters of all sizes want to share their stories with the world, and we’re committed to providing them with the best tools and platform to do so. But creating and sustaining a podcast requires a lot of decisions, and it’s often helpful to leverage the experiences and wisdom of others when embarking on a new creative journey.

That’s why we are releasing our second Fan Study for podcasters, a collection of data-driven insights about creation trends and fan listening behaviors. Fan Study offers creators a snapshot of listener behaviors through a macro lens so they can get big-picture, industry-level insights that weren’t previously accessible. Alongside each insight, we provide actionable recommendations so podcasters can leverage this information into action—from which month is most popular for listeners to how fans crave interactivity.

“Our Fan Study gives creators insights that they can immediately put into action, says Spotify associate director of brand marketing for podcasting Clara Prieto. “Regardless of what stage a podcaster is in, we know they all want to grow their shows and foster a dedicated and engaged community. With access to more data and global listening and creation trends, podcasters can reach wider audiences, build meaningful connections with fans, and maximize their presence on Spotify.”

Jon Youshaei, host of Created with Jon Youshaei, got early access to our Fan Study and found the insights “super helpful. Especially the insights and takeaways section,” he said. “It’s great to know ideal posting times and trending genres to best engage with our audience. To achieve global growth, it’s crucial to understand listening behaviors around the world. The data helps us make changes to our podcast with these listening patterns in mind.”

To create Fan Study, Spotify for Podcasters partnered with Spotify data scientists to identify the top insights. Here are some of our findings, as well as Jon’s own tips for burgeoning creators based on his favorite results.

Being Seen

Video podcasts are growing in popularity across the spectrum, but some categories have more viewership than others. When it comes to consumption of video podcasts, comedy emerges as the top category.
From 1 a.m. to 5 p.m., audiences are more likely to listen to the audio-only experience of video podcasts. When evening rolls around (6 p.m. to midnight), fans tend to watch video podcasts since they’re winding down and primed for “leaned-in” viewing.

Jon’s rec: “The evenings are your golden hours! Schedule out your social posts and CTAs in the evening to get your audiences watching.”

Being Heard

Audiences listen to podcasts more often during the weekdays, with 78% of consumption taking place Monday through Friday and 22% on Saturdays and Sundays. Commutes are prime time for podcasts during the week, with listenership spiking at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, podcast consumption spikes between 11 a.m. and noon, with smaller upticks in the evening.
When breaking down audience insights into podcast categories, we see that audiences’ daily listening behaviors vary. Podcasts falling under the religion & spirituality, arts, history, health & fitness, science, and fiction genres have higher listenership during mornings and late nights, while leisure (games & hobbies) and kids & family see a spike during the evenings.
In 2022, people were more likely to start listening to new shows during January, March, July, and October.

Jon’s rec: “Plan your content accordingly! Make sure to sync your best content, and your content pushes, with the four top months.”

Being Connected

Fans crave interaction. 73% of listeners said they are interested in finding more opportunities to interact with their favorite podcast hosts.
On average, listeners who answer a host’s question using our Q&A feature consume 2.35x more hours of the show per month than those who do not. Converting new listeners to loyal fans may require new engagement strategies.
The number-one way people find new podcasts is by hearing about them on a show they already listen to (54%). This is closely followed by recommendations from friends and family (53%) and browsing Spotify (50%). Discovery patterns vary depending on demographics. Gen Z is more likely to use social media in their search—1.5x more likely compared to Gen X or Baby Boomers, who are more likely to turn to articles, blogs, and newsletters.

Jon’s rec: “Add and customize questions for your episodes! I know it sounds simple, but users who engage with those questions on average stick around for twice as long.”

Find the complete Fan Study insights on Spotify for Podcasters.

São Paulo Restaurant and Culinary School Gastronomia Periférica Is Our Newest Space for Underrepresented Podcasters

October 5, 2023

While it’s easier than ever to create a podcast, it’s still a process. Gaining access to gear, recording studios, and editing resources is difficult for anyone, especially if you’re part of a marginalized community. But removing barriers can increase accessibility, and that’s why we started our Spotify for Podcasters initiative Making Space. Aiming to elevate underrepresented creators, we partner with local businesses in marginalized communities to make studio-quality podcasting gear available for free.

Over the past year, we’ve joined forces with local inclusive businesses—Greenville, South Carolina–based plant store Savereign, Gainesville, Florida–based café Curia on the Drag, and Atlanta-based plant shop/cafe Nourish Botanica—to provide safe places for storytellers to create and help build a more diverse ecosystem of podcast creators.

But this month, we’re heading to Brazil and bringing our Making Space initiative to creators outside the U.S. for the first time. We’re inaugurating Seu Espaço, located in São Paulo, as the country’s first fully equipped podcast studio for creators. Even better, recording time can be reserved for free by established and aspiring podcasters alike. To make this a reality, we partnered with and housed the studio in restaurant and culinary school Da Quebrada – Gastronomia Periférica, a community-oriented business that seeks to transform the lives of people on the outskirts of the city through plant-based gastronomy.

“Spotify is constantly seeking ways to support new and emerging voices, and this free studio is an example of how we are making podcasting accessible to anyone, anywhere,” said Barbara Zamberlan, Spotify’s Creator Partnerships Lead in Brazil. “We want to encourage more creators to try podcasting and provide them with a safe place for their voices to be heard, contributing to the diversification of the podcasting ecosystem.”

To learn more about the restaurant’s mission and what excited its team most about offering a creator studio within its walls, For the Record spoke with Gastronomia Periférica chef and cofounder Edson Leite.

Can you tell us a little bit about the philosophy behind Da Quebrada – Gastronomia Periférica?

Gastronomia Periférica is a socially-oriented business. We make money by directly impacting people’s lives in positive ways. In addition to being a restaurant, Da Quebrada – Gastronomia Periférica is a culinary school, and our students are paid interns while they’re enrolled here.

Gastronomia Periférica also runs several other spaces throughout Brazil, providing gastronomy training for people from the outskirts—mostly Black men and women, as well as mothers.

What are some of the ways you serve the community?

What I’m most proud of with Gastronomia Periférica is how it’s affected the real transformation of life in the outskirts. I think that when we feel good, we do good. Nowadays, we can point to the east and south zones of São Paulo and say, “We’ve changed the reality of these neighborhoods by promoting and providing professional training.”

Why is it important for there to be an accessible podcasting hub in São Paulo?

Da Quebrada is a quilombo, a denomination for communities of Black enslaved peoples who resisted the slavery regime that prevailed in Brazil for over 300 years. We live in opposing territory, but we bring an aquilombamento—a spirit of bringing Black people together—with Spotify and this studio so people have access. We want people from the outskirts to understand that they can be anywhere, even in a podcast that was created with first-class equipment. And with Seu Espaço, we want them to feel like they’re in a space that embraces them. We want to give the opportunity for those voices to be amplified. Hopefully we’ll get a real sense of that impact when we see a lot of Black creators from the favelas using the place and saying, “Check out my podcast on Spotify, I’ve recorded it in a place where I felt truly at home.”

This Making Space location was made possible by the Creator Equity Fund, a multi-year investment that showcases and elevates underrepresented artists and creators through new and existing initiatives. To check available recording times for Seu Espaço, click here.

Restaurante e Escola de Culinária de São Paulo Gastronomia Periférica é nosso mais novo espaço para podcasters sub-representados

October 5, 2023

Embora seja mais fácil do que nunca criar um podcast, ainda é um processo. Ter acesso a equipamentos, estúdios de gravação e recursos de edição é difícil para qualquer pessoa, especialmente se você faz parte de uma comunidade marginalizada. Mas a quebra de barreiras pode aumentar a acessibilidade, e é por isso que iniciamos nossa iniciativa Spotify for Podcasters, Making Space. Com o objetivo de promover criadores sub-representados, fazemos parcerias com empresas locais em comunidades marginalizadas para disponibilizar gratuitamente equipamentos de podcasting com qualidade de estúdio.

No ano passado, unimos forças com empresas locais inclusivas – a loja de plantas Savereign, com sede em Greenville, Carolina do Sul, e o café Curia on the Drag, com sede em Gainesville, Flórida, e a loja de plantas/café com sede em Atlanta, Nourish Botanica — para oferecer locais seguros para os contadores de histórias criarem e ajudarem a construir um ecossistema mais diversificado de criadores de podcast.

Mas este mês estamos indo para o Brasil e tornando o Making Space global. Localizado em São Paulo, inauguramos o Seu Espaço como o primeiro estúdio de podcast totalmente equipado para criadores do país. Melhor ainda, o período de gravação pode ser reservado gratuitamente por podcasters estabelecidos e aspirantes. Para tornar isso realidade, firmamos parceria e abrigamos o estúdio no restaurante escola Da Quebrada – Gastronomia Periférica, um negócio social que busca transformar a vida das pessoas da periferia da cidade por meio da gastronomia vegetal.

“O Spotify está sempre procurando maneiras de ajudar a nutrir vozes novas e emergentes, e este estúdio gratuito é um exemplo de como estamos tornando o podcasting possível para qualquer pessoa, em qualquer lugar”, diz Barbara Zamberlan, líder de parcerias com criadores no Brasil. “Queremos encorajar mais criadores a experimentar o podcasting e oferecer a eles um lugar seguro para que suas vozes sejam ouvidas, tornando o ecossistema de podcaster mais diversificado.”

Para saber mais sobre a missão do restaurante e o que mais empolgou sua equipe em oferecer um estúdio de criação dentro de seu espaço, For the Record conversou com o chef e cofundador do Gastronomia Periférica, Edson Leite.

Você pode nos contar um pouco sobre a filosofia do Da Quebrada – Gastronomia Periférica?

A Gastronomia Periférica é um negócio social. A gente ganha dinheiro impactando diretamente a vida das pessoas. Esse lugar é um restaurante escola Gastronomia Periférica, onde temos as nossas alunas estagiando – e recebendo para estar aqui. A Gastronomia Periférica tem vários outros espaços em São Paulo e pelo Brasil inteiro, de formação em gastronomia para pessoas periféricas – em sua maioria, mulheres pretas, mães, e homens pretos periféricos.

Quais são algumas das maneiras pelas quais você serve a comunidade?

O que mais me orgulha dentro Gastronomia Periférica é a transformação real e local da vida na quebrada. Eu acho que quando a gente consegue estar bem, a gente consegue fazer bem. A gente consegue hoje, por exemplo, olhar para a Zona Leste e Sul de São Paulo e falar: “nós mudamos essa realidade”, porque a gente conseguiu promover formação profissional.

Por que é importante que haja um hub de podcasting acessível em São Paulo?

O Da Quebrada é um quilombo, uma denominação para comunidades de povos negros escravizados que resistiram ao regime escravista que prevaleceu no Brasil por mais de 300 anos. A gente vive em território inimigo, mas a gente traz um aquilombamento – um espírito de unir os negros – junto com o Spotify, com o estúdio, dentro desse espaço, para que se tenha acesso. Para que as pessoas da periferia entendam que a gente pode estar em qualquer lugar, inclusive dentro de um podcast, usando equipamentos de primeira linha, em um lugar que nos acolhe. É um bagulho diferentão, real. É foda. Queremos dar a oportunidade para que a voz da pessoa periférica seja ecoada. A gente vai ter a real noção disso quando a gente ver vários pretos favelados e pretas faveladas ocupando o lugar e falando: o meu podcast tá no Spotify, e eu gravei dentro de um lugar onde eu me senti em casa.

Making Space faz parte do Creator Equity Fund, um investimento plurianual que mostra e eleva artistas e criadores sub-representados por meio de iniciativas novas e existentes. Para conferir os horários de gravação disponíveis do Seu Espaço, clique aqui.

Everything In Store for Podcast Listeners and Creators This International Podcast Day

September 28, 2023

At Spotify, you could say we think about podcasts 24/7. Spotify is now the most-used audio podcast platform in many key markets around the world and the number one podcast publisher in the US. We count over 100 million regular podcast listeners, a ten-fold increase since 2019, and over half a billion people who have listened to at least one podcast on Spotify since 2019. There are now over 5 million shows, with podcasts available in more than 170 markets.

So in the lead-up to International Podcast Day on September 30, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the medium and its creators globally. From Original and exclusive content to programs that empower and amplify new creators, there’s always something fresh to listen to or share, as well as ways to discover new shows or engage with the ones you love more deeply.

At the BLK Pod Festival happening in Atlanta on International Podcast Day, Spotify for Podcasters’ Creative Director Gavin Guidry will speak onstage to emphasize the power of podcasts in marginalized communities. The festival, sponsored by Spotify’s Creator Equity Fund, aims to showcase Black audio creatives while educating attendees and cultivating relationships and experiences.

“I’m excited to represent Spotify at the BLK Pod Festival, to have the opportunity to experience a community of Black podcasters in Atlanta, my hometown, and to hear some of the stories that they’re telling through the medium,” says Gavin. “We have a unique way of seeing the world, and it’s always inspiring to see how other creators are putting their stamp on podcasting.”

Gavin, who cohosts the Tools for Time Traveling podcast, will share his thoughts on breaking into podcasting, podcast monetization, trends among creators in the industry, and how creators can develop a sustainable brand.

“Spotify’s tools are primed for all of these opportunities,” he explained to For the Record. “From features like podcast polls and Q&As to opportunities to upload video, we’re always working to give creators more of what they need to reach the biggest, most engaged audience.”

New Podcast Tools To Love

There’s plenty in store on our platform, too. We’re always creating new ways to make it even easier to listen, discover, and engage with your favorite podcasts, with the following new features starting to roll out to Free and Premium users globally:

Making transcripts richer and easier to follow: We’re launching auto-generated and time-synced transcripts to more creators and shows so you can read along with an episode, making the transcripts more visually and textually accessible. While listening to an episode, scroll down the Now Playing View to find the transcript, then tap the card to follow along on full screen as you listen to the episode. We’ll be rolling out transcripts to millions of episodes in the coming weeks, and we’ll innovate more on this feature in the future, including ways to add media to transcripts. This is all part of our goal to bring more depth to the podcasts you’re listening to.

Expanding Podcast Chapters: Earlier this year at Stream On, we announced Podcast Chapters, making it easier for you to jump into episodes at a specific topic or section. Mobile users globally can now find the full list of chapters by scrolling down the Now Playing View, giving them more control over their listening sessions and more info about every episode as they dive in.

Updating the Podcast Show pages: Learn more about a podcast before you listen to the episode in full, with additional content available before you jump in, on an improved Show Place. As it rolls out in the coming weeks, you’ll be able to click the “About” tab to find descriptions, images, and episode recommendations from creators. Plus, you’ll get recommendations for other shows in the “More Like This” tab.

A Global Roundup

Worldwide, podcasts continue to educate and inspire—whether that’s on the part of the podcasters or the listeners. From Latin America to Europe to Africa, the Pacific and back, we took a look at notable podcasting moments happening across Spotify.

Brazil

In Brazil, one of the fastest-growing podcast markets, we’ve recently demonstrated our ongoing commitment to supporting the creator community through a number of initiatives, including:

Spotify Podcast Festival: A first-of-its-kind initiative that connects fans and creators through live sessions in Brazil that are set to take place in November.
Making Space studio: The first free podcast studio for creators in Brazil that provides podcasters with an equipped environment for recording audio content.
Spotify Labs program: A new live and online initiative aimed at teaching budding podcasters about strategies for developing and successfully launching a podcast on Spotify.

Nigeria

Podcasts are rising in popularity in Nigeria, increasing by 222% in listenership between 2021 and 2022. Gen Z listeners aged 18-24 account for 50% of total streams over three months. The top local podcasts among Nigerian listeners include The HonestBunch Podcast, I Said What I Said, Menisms, So Nigerian, and Tea with Tay, with listeners tuning in the most between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., possibly while commuting to work, sitting in traffic, or getting ready for the day.

India

In India, another fast-growing podcast market, we took Spotify Podcasters’ Day to Delhi on September 23, bringing together existing and aspiring creators and storytellers for an evening of conversations and networking. We also took this opportunity to talk about our continued creator focus going forward, announcing the return of two creator programs:

The Spotify Managed Partner Program: This initiative supports existing podcasters on our platform by offering them education, partner management support, and editorial promotion to further grow their listeners.
Pod-Start: This two-phase approach focuses on creators who are beginning their podcasting journeys. The first phase focuses on onboarding existing creators to Spotify, and the second empowers individuals with expertise in their respective fields to create podcasts on Spotify.

Japan

The numbers of podcasters and podcast listeners on Spotify have been steadily increasing in Japan. Since our global podcast focus began in 2019, the number of Japanese Spotify users who enjoy podcasts at least once a month has increased by more than 42 times. By summer 2023, monthly podcast consumption had increased by more than 168x from January 2019. Plus, the number of domestic creators in Japan using Spotify for Podcasters to create and distribute podcasts increased more than 34% since we started the local Creator Support Program in January 2022. Hear more from three Japanese creators on why they love podcasting.

Australia

Australia remains in the top 10 countries in the world for podcast listening by hours, with comedy, health & fitness, and society & culture topping the list of most popular genres. The second-fastest-growing Australian podcast in the country is Aussie podcaster Jemma Sbeg from the psychology of your 20s. She started out recording on her bedroom floor and is now a well-known force in the medium. Her top tips for aspiring podcasters:

You don’t need a fancy studio or equipment: Jemma started out recording on her phone in her room, and “while the audio quality wasn’t great, my ideas were!”
You don’t need to be famous or have a marketing budget to build a following: Jemma’s podcast built an audience purely through word of mouth. “Put yourself out there and your audience will find you.”
Be unique and stay consistent: “If you are authentic and true to yourself, the listeners will come and they will stay!”

Sweden

Our Swedish-owned and -exclusive podcasts have recently gained traction, receiving 11 nominations in the prestigious award show Guldörat, which celebrates the most impactful podcasts, radio shows, and hosts of the year. Among the nominees is Spotify Dok, our flagship podcast for documentaries. With new episodes each week, the original show is growing rapidly as a trailblazer in the booming genre.

Middle East and North Africa

Across the Middle East and North Africa, podcast streaming on Spotify increased more than 190% year-over-year from 2022 to 2023. Long-form interviews and conversations are increasing in popularity in particular, with listeners tuning into shows like Finjan, #ABTalks, and The Mo Show for extended periods of time. This interest in longer-form content coincides with the rise of niche podcasts, catering to specific audiences with topics like mental health, business, and self-improvement. Self-improvement is popular in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with podcasts like Think with Hessa, Abajorra, and Sawalef Business. Comedy podcasts are popular in Egypt, with shows like Kefaya ba2a and Eshtry Meny attracting a dedicated following.

U.S.

Spotify is the most-used audio podcast platform in many key markets around the world and is also the number one podcast publisher in the U.S, according to the most recent Edison Research data. Top categories include comedy, health & fitness, true crime, society & culture, and news. See more about how U.S. listeners are tuning in.

Spotify’s AI Voice Translation Pilot Means Your Favorite Podcasters Might Be Heard in Your Native Language

September 25, 2023

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 Dax Shepard, Monica Padman, Lex Fridman, Bill Simmons, and Steven Bartlett 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:

Lex Fridman Podcast – “Interview with Yuval Noah Harari”
Armchair Expert – “Kristen Bell, by the grace of god, returns”
The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett – “Interview with Dr. Mindy Pelz”

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.

Trevor Noah on Podcasting, Spotify’s Global Platform, and Telling Your Own Story

June 20, 2023

Earlier today while in conversation with Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek, comedian, author, and former Daily Show host Trevor Noah revealed that he’ll be moving into the world of podcasting with a new Spotify Original podcast, launching later this year.

“My passion and my joy has always been connecting people and connecting ideas,” Trevor explained to Daniel. “I think we live in a world where as we become more connected, ironically, we become a little disconnected. And so, what I’ve always liked to do is try to connect and draw those threads between ideas, between people. That’s what I’ll continue to do with the podcast.”

From the stage at Spotify Beach at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, he went on to explain that his new podcast won’t focus specifically on any one type of person—or on breaking news. “I’m going to be finding a story, person, and world, and then trying to thread those things together,” he said. “Not in a way that’s reactive, not in a way that’s specifically tied to what people think of as news, but rather cultural moments, ideas, that give us a better understanding of the world we live in. Some of them might be funny; some of them might be deep; some of them might be intense stories. But they’ll all be stories that we want to talk about and ideas that we want to share.”

In addition to the announcement, Trevor and Daniel discussed navigating different mediums to forge a deeper connection with audiences, and how creators can effectively leverage new technologies in an ever-evolving media landscape. Read on for highlights from their conversation.

Daniel: What is it about the format of podcasting that really intrigues you?

Trevor: Every format, if you’re a storyteller, presents you with an opportunity to tell a story differently. So, television obviously occupies certain senses: You watch it and listen. When you’re on stage, it’s a live experience. And so, everything that is communicated is happening instantly, and then it’s gone.

What happens with the podcast, that I love, is it’s akin to radio, which I did many, many years ago in South Africa. And it’s intimate. It is everywhere. And it connects you in a way that not many mediums can. I don’t know about you, but I listen to podcasts in some of my most private settings—when I’m driving, commuting, taking a walk—and it feels like it’s just for you. It becomes your own journey, at your own time, in your own way. It doesn’t have the “you missed it” feeling that some other media has, and it also doesn’t have the en mass feeling either.

Daniel: How do you think this format will be different than something like The Daily Show?

Trevor: The Daily Show was fast, reactive, fun. It’s happening and you’re responding. I think what I’m aiming to do with this podcast is enjoy taking a little more time processing, synthesizing—you know, finding the ties between and not focusing on one particular area. It’s a lot broader. I mean, you know, your platform: 500 million people all over the globe—that gives you an opportunity to expand the purview of what you’re talking about.

Daniel: You have a lot of ideas both on that and around perhaps how brands can interact with you on the show. Care to share with the audience a little bit of those thoughts?

Trevor: I think podcasting presents a unique opportunity to brands—one that hasn’t been fully realized. I find there’s always a clash in that a brand is trying to achieve its objectives by trying to get to consumers, trying to get its message out, and then the show or the product or the artist are also trying to do their thing. And then you find there’s a clash of creative; there’s a clash of ideas; there’s a clash of authenticity. And what I’ve always struggled to understand is why that connection isn’t more organic. I think everyone can connect to a brand that they like, that they enjoy, that they want to be a part of. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think finding that connection is key.

And so, I’ve always wondered why in podcasts, for instance, instead of brands trying to be associated with the entire podcast, why don’t they focus on sections in a podcast? Why don’t they look at moments and say, “Hey, this is what I want to be a part of—so I don’t have to cosign everything else that happens on this podcast. I just want to have fun in the section. This tech section or politics section or pop culture section is what our brand stands for.” And so, I think there’s a segmentation that can occur that can provide a brand and creative with more opportunities for flexibility and authenticity.

Daniel: What does being “global” mean to you? What strategies have you pursued in order to bring a global lens to your work?

Trevor: I’m very intentional in trying to create something as many people as possible can enjoy. I hope that you will share my sense of humor. I hope that I can interest you with what I find interesting, and I hope that I can learn from you as well. I learn from my audiences, which I think is a wonderful space to exist as a creator. I don’t claim to be the know-it-all who discovers everything. I’m lucky enough to be able to listen to my fans because we have an age of technology where we can do that. So that’s something that definitely was intentional.

And then, on the other hand, I’ve always loved that I come from a very mixed and international family. You know, my dad is Swiss and my mother is Xhosa, from South Africa. So I always knew that the world existed as more than one group of people. We’ve always been connected across the globe. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of any world or any story as being isolated to the place that it happens in.

Daniel: What podcasts are you listening to and loving?

Trevor: Alex Cooper’s podcast, Call Her Daddy, is amazing. She’s phenomenal in how she’s grown and expanded. She’s another example of someone who had one niche, and she’s grown and shown the multifaceted woman that she is, like all women. Podcasts afford everybody the opportunity to share something.

Daniel: What advice would you give someone who is just starting out on social media?

Trevor: Social media has been amazing in connecting people. But what it has been terrible at is providing the context for that connection. And without context, every interaction can go the wrong way. There was a time when social media was you speaking to people whom you knew or were connected to. And so the context was maintained. Everyone understood every joke or every point of view you had because of how insular it started. Now you don’t know—your message, your tweet, your post, your whatever can go to people hundreds of thousands of miles across the globe who don’t get the full context. Context defines everything.

My job is to try and provide you the most context possible. That’s all I’m trying to do—give you the most. But there will never be all the context unless I’m speaking specifically to every single person individually. And so, as a society, I think that’s what we need to work on.

Catch all the conversations happening on the ground at Cannes on Newsroom.Spotify.com/SpotifyBeach2023 and listen to Daniel and Trevor’s full conversation on Spotify.

The Ringer Founder Bill Simmons Reveals the Secret Behind the Successful Brand Partnerships of ‘The Rewatchables’

June 16, 2023

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 the Indiana 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.

Immediate Media Partners With Spotify’s Megaphone To Bring Its Popular U.K. Podcasts to the World

February 16, 2023

When it comes to U.K. podcast producers, Immediate Media stands out. In 2022, the studio published more than 750 podcast episodes and averaged more than 5 million downloads per month across its 12 ongoing series. One of its most popular podcasts, HistoryExtra, also just celebrated a major milestone by hitting 200 million downloads. And now, we’re excited to announce our new partnership with Immediate Media that will help the company take its content to the next level.

Starting in March, Immediate Media’s podcasts will be hosted and monetized through Spotify’s enterprise podcasting platform, Megaphone. With its portfolio—including the Radio Times Podcast, The olive magazine podcast, and the aforementioned HistoryExtra, along with BBC’s Top Gear Magazine Podcast, BBC Good Food Podcast, and BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine—Immediate Media offers content from premium brands that advertisers love.

With Megaphone’s comprehensive set of industry-leading tools, Immediate Media can more effectively publish and grow its podcast business, by creating podcast ads for use on Spotify and other listening platforms.

2022 Saw Even More Advancements, Acquisitions, and Excitement at Spotify

December 27, 2022

Earlier this month, we all had a chance to revisit what we listened to most in 2022 with Wrapped. From the year’s top artist (congrats on the three-peat, Bad Bunny) to identifying our listening personalities (where the “Deep Divers” at?), fans worldwide shared their listening habits. But that’s only the icing on the cake. The year also saw new content offerings such as audiobooks and more programs to support diverse and underrepresented voices, all designed to bring the best experience to listeners and creators.

Ring in 2023 by reliving Spotify’s highlights from 2022.

Commitment to platform safety

At the start of the year, we shared several actions we’re taking to balance creator expression with safety, including publishing our Platform Rules and taking steps to ensure creators and users alike understand what’s permitted on Spotify. This summer, we unveiled the Spotify Safety Advisory Council, an interdisciplinary group of experts that are providing our teams with an outside-in view of the safety landscape and helping us ensure that our products and policies address the needs and concerns of our users, creators, and artists around the world.

Acquisitions expand our offerings

Early in the year, we acquired two podcast technology companies: Podsights, a podcast advertising measurement service, and Chartable, a podcast analytics platform. This move helped us uplevel measurement for podcast advertising and give publishers a new way to grow their business through insights and promotions tools.

Over the summer, we closed on the acquisition of Findaway, a global leader in digital audiobook distribution. Findaway works across the audiobook ecosystem with a platform and offerings that serve authors, publishers, and consumers. Their technology and know-how helped accelerate Spotify’s entry into audiobooks earlier this fall.

As the world’s leading audio streaming platform, it made perfect sense to bring Heardle, the beloved interactive music game to Spotify. It has provided a fun and innovative way to help fans discover new songs and artists.

We also acquired Kinzen, a global leader in protecting online communities from harmful content. Our partnership with the Dublin-based company, which began in 2020, has been critical to enhancing our approach to platform safety. The company’s technology and unique approach helps Spotify better understand, prepare for, and prevent abuse trends from emerging on our platform.

Frequency carves out a spot for Black creators

We expanded Frequency, our global initiative and holistic destination for celebrating Black art, entertainment, creativity, culture, and community both on- and off-platform, with even more opportunities for Black creators. In addition to on-platform hubs and playlists, we hosted The Free Studio, a four-day residency that brought together nine Black musicians and creators. Spotify’s popular playlist Ripple Effect continued the Frequency Sunday Dinner series in Houston, as well as cities across California.

Helping diversify the voices of podcasting

Programs like Sound Up, the Creator Equity Fund, and RADAR for Podcasters help underrepresented voices and emerging talent in the audio space. From education and workshops to on-platform amplification, these initiatives give creators the tools they need to tell their story. In October, we introduced the Africa Podcast Fund, a first-of-its-kind initiative to support burgeoning podcasters through financial grants, workshops, and networking opportunities. In December, we launched Elevate for Podcasters in partnership with the Inevitable Foundation. The program empowers professional podcasters with disabilities, providing the funding, mentorship, equipment, and accommodations they need to level up their careers.

Introducing User Choice Billing with Google

Our multi-year agreement with Google represents a first-of-its-kind option in payment choice with opportunities for both consumers and developers. Users who’ve downloaded Spotify from the Google Play Store are presented with the choice to pay with either Spotify’s payment system or Google Play Billing. These two options living side-by-side in the app give users the freedom to subscribe and make purchases, using the payment option of their choice. With this announcement and our partnership, Google is allowing more choice and competition—decisive steps that demonstrate how platforms should work.

Blend it up

Blend combines the best of Spotify’s personalization capabilities and collaborative playlist functionality into a single shared playlist. In 2022, we took Blend to a whole new level. Users can now Blend with up to 10 people or they can Blend with artists like Lizzo, Post Malone, and Charli XCX. Fans also have the opportunity to shop artist merch from the Blend experience. Blend represents another way we can give artists a new oportunity to interact with fans, and to bring added personalization to a listener’s music experience.

Playing with video

In 2022 we expanded video podcasting to Anchor creators in over 180 global markets. Podcasters love having the option to accompany their audio with visual components, and fans get the opportunity to deeply connect with the content. We also introduced Spotify Podcast Subscriptions for video podcasts, an integration with Riverside (the go-to platform for remote recording), embeddable video, video bulk-replace, video-specific analytics, and interactive podcast features, such as polls and Q&A.

Celebrating EQUAL’s first anniversary

Since its launch, EQUAL has spotlighted women artists through global partnerships, activations, new content experiences, and on- and off-platform support. April marked the program’s one year anniversary. Among EQUAL’s major accomplishments: listeners streamed more than 13 million hours of program artists in the first month of joining.

Reimagining with Roblox

We entered the virtual universe Roblox to create Spotify Island, an audio paradise where fans and artists from all over the world can connect and explore exclusive sounds, quests, and merch. We enhanced the experience during the year with K-Park and Planet Hip-Hop.

Spotify and FC Barcelona team up on the field

In July, we kicked off a partnership with FC Barcelona, becoming the Main Partner of the Club as well as the Official Audio Streaming Partner. We joined the team in Miami during the club’s preseason tour and brought artists like Ovy on the Drums, Piso 21, and Mau y Ricky along for the fun. Through the in-stadium LEDs and our other marketing channels, we promoted artists of all sizes from around the world including BLACKPINK, Fireboy DML, Megan Thee Stallion, Aitch, Pomme, Feid, and Rigoberta Bandini. For FC Barcelona’s October El Clásico showdown—one of the most iconic events in all of sport—we celebrated Drake’s 50 billion streams by creating a limited-edition kit. Get more details on this multiyear partnership on our Spotify: For the Record podcast.

Upping the ante with audiobooks

This fall, we introduced audiobooks to listeners in the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. With more than 300,000 titles on the platform, we are giving book lovers a new way to enjoy storytelling on Spotify.

Time to play fair

We believe everyone benefits when competition is fair. Unfortunately, Apple does not, and they’ve consistently abused their dominant position to favor their own services, stifle innovation and hurt consumers. This year, we continued to urge policymakers to take significant action to protect competition and consumers from Apple’s anticompetitive behavior. For more on this fight, listen to Spotify: For the Record, where entrepreneurs, U.S. senators, and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek discuss the importance of consumer choice.

Spotify’s LA Recording Studio is a Creative Hub for Artists and Podcasters

December 22, 2022

Studio photos by Brad Devins and Sean Michon

When we talk about making Spotify the preferred destination for artists, we sometimes mean it figuratively—alluding to the reach of our platform, the programs we have for up-and-coming creators, and beyond. But when it comes to our LA office, At Mateo, we also mean it literally. Our hub in Los Angeles is a state-of-the-art music- and podcast-recording facility with doors opened wide to creators for audio innovation and celebration—and there’s something for every creator at every stage of their career.

Chris D’Angelo, Spotify’s Head of Production & Studio Facilities, and William Garrett, Senior Music Producer/Studio Development Lead—two of the space’s biggest champions—have been thinking about how to best use the space since its inception. And now that it’s open, they’re realizing even more ways to make it attractive and accessible to creators well into the future.

“When we first sat down to design the offices, we wanted to enable music, video, and audio production to happen right here at the Spotify offices in a really great environment,” Chris told For the Record. “And so we really talked a lot about who would be coming in and what type of artists, what type of creators, what the employees would need to do, and what the community that we were building in would want, need, or expect from us. We spent a lot of time thinking about how each constituent would need to use it.”

Read on to see how Chris, William, and the team’s thoughtfulness has come to create a space where creators feel at home.

Let’s make music

Podcaster Wrapped Celebrates Podcast Creators and Their Fans in 2022

December 2, 2022

Earlier this week we revealed 2022 Wrapped, our annual campaign that brings creators and fans together around a shared love of all things audio. And to accompany it, we launched Podcaster Wrapped for creators.

Podcaster Wrapped is our way to recognize achievements across our podcast creator ecosystem and offer a unique peek into user behavior and listening trends from the past year. And what a year it was! We were blown away by the amount of podcast content created: It would take you over 1,500 years to listen to every minute of the 25 million+ podcast episodes published in 2022.

As we look back at all the meaningful moments that made up 2022—the milestones, big wins, and one-of-a-kind connection that brings creators and fans together—it’s clear there’s a lot to celebrate.

More for listeners and creators to love

This year, we saw a more than 50% increase in podcast consumption. Over half of the billions of hours of content played in 2022 was newly published since January.

Meanwhile, we continued to build innovative tools that enable podcasters to create, grow, and monetize their content in new ways. We brought video podcasts to creators in over 180 markets so that listeners can enjoy a visual complement to content and creators have a new way to reach and connect with their fans. We also made it easier for creators to sound better with a new audio enhancement feature, and we expanded our interactivity capabilities by making Q&A and Polls available to creators around the world.

Getting to know you

We launched our first-ever Fan Study for podcasters, giving creators insights into fan behavior so they can make more informed decisions about how to grow their show. Through Fan Study, we learned things like fans who follow your podcast will listen to four times the number of episodes, and Gen Z’s podcast discovery is growing at twice the rate of other generations.

We elevated dozens of emerging podcasters from around the world with programs like RADAR Podcasters and Sound Up, which both aim to spotlight up-and-coming creators and provide them with support to grow their audiences.

Near and far

And we continued to see that podcasts are truly global. Podcaster Wrapped showed us that the majority of podcasts published are listened to in more than one country, and we’re seeing impressive creation growth in Central and South America, specifically Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. These countries saw a more than 50% increase in new shows created between 2021 and 2022. The top markets in terms of shows published are the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and India.

We love seeing creators grow and hit their strides, and we’ll continue to build programs and tools to help podcasters of all kinds find success in 2023 and beyond.

Stream On 2023

Time to Play Fair

Spotify Loud & Clear

Spotify x FC Barcelona