What better way to start your day than with a great podcast? If you’ve had trouble picking the new podcast episodes in the past, Spotify’s new “plays” metric might just come in handy.
Spotify Plays Shows Just How Popular a Podcast Episode Is
Spotify
Spotify is working hard to become the platform of choice for podcast listeners and creators. So, it’s no surprise that Spotify’s announcement of its newest feature, launched May 6, 2025, strongly focuses on building that audience: you can now see how many times a podcast has been listened to or watched. The new podcast feature, called “plays,” is available for both audio-only and video podcasts.
Play counts have been visible for music tracks on Spotify for years, but this is the first time this metric will be available to podcast listeners and creators. Spotify revealed that this metric will appear throughout the app, including on the podcast episode page, show page, and home page. Creators will be able to view on Megaphone and Spotify for Creators as well. Unsurprisingly, podcast creators can access more comprehensive insights, including consumption hour metrics.
At the time of writing, I was unable to see play counts for podcast episodes, which suggests “plays” is still rolling out. If you don’t see it yet on your app, give it time; it should appear soon enough.
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Spotify’s New Plays Feature Will Help You Spot the Rising Gems
Since people usually rely on popularity indicators when deciding what to listen to, Spotify’s new plays metric could help emerging podcasts get noticed. You’re more likely to click on a podcast that’s racking up the views than one languishing with zero views.
I enjoy podcasts quite a bit, and there’s plenty to like about using Spotify for podcasts. But I sometimes miss interesting podcasts because there’s no way for me to gauge if an episode is worth my time. Now that Spotify is making play counts for podcasts visible, I can quickly spot episodes that other listeners like me find interesting. It’s a small but thoughtful update that I’m sure listeners like me will appreciate.
