Interview Questions › Metrics

North Star for Spotify podcasts

You lead podcasts at Spotify. Choose a North Star metric for podcasts and explain how it connects to Spotify's overall business.

Context

Spotify earns from subscriptions and ads. Podcasts were meant to increase engagement and reduce dependence on music royalties.

Clarifying questions to ask first

• Is the goal engagement, margin or retention?
• Free vs premium users?

How to approach it

1. Goal of podcasts for the company
2. Options: listeners, hours, retention of subscribers, ad revenue
3. Avoid vanity metrics
4. Supporting and counter metrics

Framework: Goal of the product -> Users and value exchange -> North Star -> Supporting metrics by funnel stage -> Guardrails and counter-metrics -> Decision or target

Sample answer

• Weekly listeners who complete 2+ episodes
• Share of total listening hours from podcasts (margin effect)
• Premium churn among podcast listeners vs music-only

1. Premium users who listen to podcasts weekly churn 20% less
2. Podcast hours are 15% of listening but cost far less than music per hour
3. One-third of podcast listeners only ever play one show

North Star: weekly listeners who complete two or more episodes, because habitual listening drives both retention and margin. Supporting: share of listening hours from podcasts and shows per listener. Guardrail: music listening hours, to avoid cannibalising the core.

What interviewers look for

• Weekly podcast listeners
• Podcast hours per listener
• Premium retention among podcast listeners