As part of a “strategic realignment” of the vertical, Spotify is eliminating about 200 positions from its podcasting division. In a company memo published today, June 5th, Sahar Elhabashi, Spotify’s VP and head of podcast business, announced the layoffs, which accounted for about 2% of the company’s entire workforce.
Parcast and Gimlet, two well-known podcasting studios that Spotify purchased in 2019, will also be combined into a single Spotify Studios operation, according to the business. The popular productions Stolen, The Journal, Science Vs, Heavyweight, Serial Killers, and Conspiracy Theories will continue to be produced under the newly formed Spotify Studios name, along with additional original programming from The Ringer, despite the fact that 11 podcasts from these networks were already terminated last year. According to Elhabashi, “both studios will approve new shows with a greater emphasis on always-on programming that drives strong, devoted audiences and draws advertisers.”
While Elhabashi’s memo suggests that Spotify is seriously considering how it can benefit from the larger podcasting ecosystem, it is still committed to creating original content. Elhabashi claims that in order to increase audience size, the company intends to expand the analytics features available to podcasters on Spotify. Elhabashi also claims that the company is expanding its advertising options in order to “help more creators make meaningful money.” Elhabashi also points out that Spotify will increase the number of roles in its podcasting department that are devoted to creator partnerships, despite the fact that today’s memo announces layoffs in the podcasting division.
According to Elhabashi, “We are extending our partnership efforts with top podcasters from around the world with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator.” We will be able to support the creator community more effectively thanks to this fundamental shift away from a more uniform proposition. To do this, though, requires adaptation; over the past few months, our senior leadership team has closely collaborated with HR to identify the best structure for this new chapter.
The announcement made today comes after a larger round of layoffs for Spotify in January, during which time the company fired 6% of its 9,800-person workforce. Some of the workers impacted by those layoffs had joined the business as a part of Podsights and Chartable, two platforms for podcast measurement and analytics that Spotify acquired in February 2022 for undisclosed sums. In October of last year, nearly a third of the unionized staff at Parcast and Gimlet were also let go. As a result, Spotify has now cut its podcasting division three times in the past 12 months, despite reporting in April that the vertical is struggling to turn a profit.
