While YouTube continues to dominate the podcasting space, Spotify is actively working to fill the gap. Latest Development: A new feature that lets users see how many times they actively listen to or watch episodes of audio-only or video podcasts.
The streaming giant revealed a new podcast metric called “Play” on Tuesday, allowing users to see which podcast episodes are the most popular. This is the first time that creators and users have seen such podcast metrics.
Plays appear next to podcast episodes throughout the app, including homepages, episode pages, and show pages. It is also available to Spotify creators for creators and megaphones.
With this new metric in the podcast, Spotify aims to encourage users to explore unfamiliar podcasts, especially if they think other listeners would like these episodes very much.
For creators, this information sheds light that episodes resonate with their audiences most, and more importantly, allows them to benchmark their performance against their competitors.
Spotify's announcement follows first quarter revenue, revealing an increase in 5 million premium subscribers, totaling 268 million. This marks the second-highest total since 2020 and the largest first-quarter increase.