A real paradox is to live these hours Spotifyas a Swedish audio player giant, reported wonderful numbers regarding its podcasting area, but it also revealed layoffs of more than 200 workers in those departments.

By a statementthe streaming company pointed out the following:

• Spotify is now the most widely used audio podcast platform in most corners of the world and is also the number one podcast publisher in the United States.
• There are now over 100 million podcast listeners on Spotify (10x growth)
• Since we entered space, over half a billion people have listened to a podcast on Spotify.
• Consumption increased by more than 1,400%
• Podcast content has grown from 200,000 titles to over 5 million shows on Spotify
• 165 of Spotify’s original and licensed shows hit #1 on our charts in 99 markets in 2022
• Podcast ad revenue saw strong double-digit growth from 2021 to 2022

Sahar Elhabashi, Vice President, Head of Podcastingcommented that, “We recently launched the next phase of our podcast strategy, which aims to deliver even more value to creators (and users!). It starts with maximizing consumption of the mass audience we’ve established through format innovation and ensuring that more creators in more places are successful. At the same time, working with the podcasting community, we’re expanding our analytics capabilities by expanding Spotify for Podcasters, which will help creators maximize their audience on Spotify and beyond. The foundation of this effort is a continuous improvement of our advertising offerings and the introduction of more business models to help more creators earn big money from their work.

We’re expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters around the world with a personalized approach optimized for each show and creator. This critical pivot of a more cohesive proposal will allow us to better support the creator community.

However, to carry out these restructurings, Spotify announced the layoff of 200 people in the global Podcast vertical, equivalent to its 2% of total employees.

Unfortunately, that means saying goodbye to close colleagues and friends. We know that news like this is never easy, especially for those affected. These decisions are not something we take lightly. I want to express my gratitude for all that those who are leaving have done for podcasting and Spotify. Those affected by this change have already received an invitation for a 1:1 conversation today with a member of our HR team, and we are working to ensure that every step of this process is taken with the utmost empathy and the greatest respect. The company will support these individuals with generous severance packages, including extended medical coverage and immediate access to outplacement assistance.”

This is due to the combination of Parcast and Gimlet in a revamped operation of Spotify Studios which will continue to produce a wide range of high-impact originals.

So the new podcast flowchart will have:

Julie McNamara (VP, Head of Global Podcast Studios) overseeing the organization of Spotify Studios, with liliana kim support for current content from Spotify Studios with Liz Gateley, Who will be responsible for development? Bill Simmons will continue as Managing Director of The Ringer and Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization, and Brian Thorensen (Responsible for Content Associations).

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