The best creators are great storytellers and students of their audience. That means constantly evolving based on what's actually resonating. To do that well, creators need the right data. Today, we're rolling out a series of updates to Spotify for Creators so you can see exactly how your audience discovers your show, engages with each episode, and keeps coming back.
New data to power your growth strategy
We’ve added new data and graphs throughout Spotify for Creators to help you assess how episode performance translates to overall audience retention. These tools break down your new and returning listeners, provide benchmarks against your past episode performance, and dive deep on how your engagement has evolved over time.
- See how many people are discovering you - and how many are coming back: With the audience segments graph, understand if your audience primarily comes from first-time discovery or returning fans coming back for more.
- Evaluate which episodes are beating your benchmarks: Keep a pulse on how your latest episode is trending with the trends tool by directly comparing its day-by-day performance against the rest of your catalog
- Chart your growth through long-term engagement: Check the engagement tab to see how your content fosters deeper engagement on Spotify through insights on comments, followers, and audience retention.
More data. Less digging.
We’re also making it easier to access and understand Spotify performance data, like plays and audience discovery, over time.
- See how far you’ve come: Review your Spotify consumption all the way back to your very first listener. Your full history is now available directly in your analytics overview.
- Spot what’s important at a glance: Catch up on new comments, episode performance, and other key trends on the homepage. When you're ready to go deeper, jump directly to the charts and tools for the full story.
- Explore how your audience grows: Learn how your show reaches new people on Spotify with a redesigned discovery journey, from impressions to plays to episode completion. Identify which episodes are driving your growth over time with more historical data and trends.
Standardizing a new definition for plays
As podcast formats evolve in the streaming era, podcasting needs updated, transparent metrics that accurately reflect reach and active engagement.
That's why we've spent the past year listening to creators and discussing our findings with the industry, including the Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP), an industry working group dedicated to cross-platform measurement standards.
Based on Spotify’s audience behavior data, thirty seconds of consumption signals authentic engagement while filtering out low-intent behavior like accidental starts. This aligns with and helped inform AMP's recently announced Podcast Plays definition, the first step in a larger measurement standards agreement.
Spotify has long been committed to setting the standard for podcasting. That's why, starting today, play counts for podcasts will now reflect this threshold by counting the number of times an episode was watched or listened to for at least thirty seconds on Spotify.
The result: A more transparent and consistent engagement metric aligned with an emerging industry standard.
With these new and evolving insights, we’re bringing your audience into focus: what they like, what they don’t, and what brings them back. Ready to dive in? Head to your dashboard to explore what's new.
