Spotify tests placing podcast shows among music recommendations for users: Report

Music streaming platform Spotify is aiming to become a major player in the sphere of podcasting, and it is spending millions to achieve its goal. And now, a report has surfaced online which explains how the company plans to promote its shows in the initial stage. Spotify will reportedly be placing suggested episodes into playlists that are generated algorithmically for its users.

According to technology website The Verge, Spotify placed several short podcasts along with personalized music suggestions in a playlist. It is worth mentioning that currently, Spotify does not have a podcast recommendation tool that is widely available. The app does not even offer specially curated podcast playlists for users. So, it seems like it has decided on this way to make recommendations.

We should mention that this year, Spotify has plans of spending $500 million on acquisitions that it plans on making in the podcast industry. Till now, it has acquired Gimlet Media, Parcast and a creation and hosting platform called Anchor. While no major changes have been seen on Spotify’s app, it is clear from the company’s actions what it intends on doing. The platform is expected to come up with a collection of shows that will exclusively be available on Spotify. It will also be working on ads and a way for people to discover podcasts.

The report further states that the playlist test is called Your Daily Drive, and it features music based on the user’s interests. However, it is also worth pointing out that apart from songs, the playlist reportedly had news podcasts, most of which were in Portuguese. According to the report, the reporter who got the playlist does not speak Portuguese. Maybe this is happening because the feature is currently in the testing phase, and hopefully it would be able to make better recommendations once it is rolled out to all. It may have also happened because the company might be only running the test in a Portuguese-speaking country, and accidentally shared the same shows to the reporter. It is worth mentioning that these podcasts were not made by Spotify.

Speaking about the company’s plans, a Spotify spokesperson told The Verge, “We’re always testing new products and experiences, but have no further news to share at this time.”

Algorithmic playlists that offer music and podcasts will definitely be a welcome feature on the music-streaming platform. Considering that the company’s Discover Weekly playlist is already a very popular feature if it plans to add podcasts to it, Spotify will be able to provide more than 100 million subscribers with podcasts.