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Google Podcasts
Role: Vertical Lead & Interaction Designer
Timeline: 2018 – 2020
Team: Search, Chrome, Media
Impact: +186% DAU Growth | +400% Listen Time | 4.5 Star Rating
In 2018, Google’s podcast offering was a basic utility struggling to retain users against established competitors. Users were discovering content via Search but abandoning the platform due to a lack of core power-user features and a fragmented ecosystem.
The MVP lacked critical engagement drivers like sleep timers and auto-downloads, causing high churn.
The traditional "subscription-only" model limited exploration. Users needed a way to follow topics of interest, not just specific shows.
There was no seamless bridge between mobile listening and desktop browsing, creating a dead end for users on the web.
Driving Retention
To break the "MVP ceiling," I aligned with Product Leadership to prioritize features specifically targeted at increasing session length and daily returns.
I scoped and designed the Sleep Timer and Auto-Download features, directly addressing the top user requests that were blocking adoption.
I led the design for the Discover Tab and Topic Page, shifting the paradigm from a traditional "subscription model" to one based on "topics of interest," allowing for broader content exploration.
Unifying the Ecosystem
Led the design for the Google Podcasts Web Player, effectively unlocking a cross-device ecosystem.
Designed the architecture for state synchronization, allowing a user to pause on their Pixel and resume instantly on their laptop.
This launch doubled the impact of Podcasts in Google Search, scaling its reach to approximately 10% of all Podcasts DAU.
Unlocked podcast listening on Desktop, iOS, and Android browsers, removing the friction of app installation.
The design interventions led to one of the steepest growth curves in the product's history, validating the strategy of focusing on core usability and ecosystem integration.
Achieved a +186% increase in DAU (215K to 615K) and a +115% increase in MAU(1.06M to 2.17M) year-over-year.
Daily listen time skyrocketed by 400%, moving from 400K minutes to over 2M+ minutes in just 18 months.
Daily installs increased by 80% (10K to 18K per day), driving the app to over 5M+ installs with a rating increase to 4.53 stars (one of the highest-rated Google apps at the time).