Digital music service provider Spotify has recently announced a layoff for employees in the podcast domain. They are likely to cut down about 2% of their workforce from the company. This makes roughly about 200 employees in numbers.
Apparently, the reason behind such an initiative is to transform how the company handles partnerships with podcasters worldwide. As a part of the initiative, both Gimlet Media and Parcast will be merged into Spotify Studios. All three of them will work together to boost the podcast operations and ad revenues. They will also ensure the accessibility of the shows on a broader level worldwide.
Following a Uniform Approach
Speaking about the matter, Sahar Elhabashi (VP of Spotify) announced that people who are laid off would be given generous severance packages. He further mentioned how the company is trying to focus more on the tailored approach instead of the uniform one. Elhabashi mentioned how their “fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow them to support the creator community better.”
Elhabashi also discussed that their new changes would certainly help them to get a move on the “next chapter for podcasts on Spotify”. He believes that this initiative will stimulate strong discovery and podcast habits among users, which will eventually lead to thriving monetization and audience growth with time. This may eventually add up values and good margins for the Sweden-based company that also offers audiobooks, the evolving media of storytelling.
Second Time in a Year
This isn’t the first time Spotify made such a decision in 2023. Earlier in January, Spotify slashed 600 jobs in the company. All this is happening four years after their first podcast accession. To mention Spotify’s employee count, the company marked an average of 5,584 people worldwide in 2022, which was lesser than the prior year (6,617 people). However, the numbers were definitely higher than in 2011, when the company hired only 311 workers.
Spotify has evolved as a strong music company since its launch. The company offers both free and paid music services for their users, where the latter focuses on ad-free music. Furthermore, they are likely to develop AI technology to make host-read podcast ads.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.