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Podcasting
Launching Native Creator Podcast Sponsorship: A 0→1 Design for Growth
Led end-to-end UX/UI design to help creators gain meaningful visibility on PlayerFM, and achieved 300k impression per week
Player FM is a cross-platform podcast app with a rich content library and over 1.8M MAU.
As part of our broader company initiative to expand our revenue stream, I partner with revenue team and led the design for a new creator sponsorship program on PlayerFM.
Unlike traditional in-app ads or IAPs, this placement allowed podcast creators to promote their shows within the app.
ROLE
Lead Product Designer
TEAM
Product Manager | Sales
Business ops | Engineering | QA
DURATION
5 weeks
$ 1M
Mid-2023
300k
Impression/week
MY RESPONSIBILITY
As a Lead Product Designer, I worked closely with PMs, Business Ops, Revenue and Engineers teams to design, iterate, ship and learn the new sponsorship experience to drive maximum growth.
Led end-to-end UX/UI design to help creators gain meaningful visibility
Identified system-level opportunities and brought clarity through prototyping
Conducted agile user research and testing to surface insights and support decision-making
Designed and iterated on high-fidelity mocks and key flows
Collaborated on sprint planning and long-term roadmap definition
Partnered with Revenue to support creator outreach materials
PROBLEM
Despite our ad tech expertise, PlayerFM had no creator sponsorship system — so we had to build it 0→1 without benchmarks or a clear definition of creator success.
We didn’t know the user
We lacked insight into independent podcast creators’ needs and the metrics driving their sponsorship decisions.
Creators didn’t know
As a new offering, creators had no visibility into performance metrics or our advantages over other ad platforms.
Balance visibility with user experience
We needed to ensure sponsored content was prominent enough for creators yet felt native and relevant for listeners.
HMW QUESTION
How might we integrate sponsored content prominently enough to drive creator value, without disrupting the listener trust?
This was a 0→1 initiative, so we first had to understand what success meant for creators. As the project evolved, we also needed to define what realistic success looked like for our platform.
While helping creators gain visibility, we couldn’t sacrifice the listener experience. The sponsorship needed to feel native and relevant — not like a traditional ad.
SUCCESS METRICS
Content Impression
Content CTR
Content Conversion
Cost per Acquisition
RESULT AFTER
5 INTENTIONAL PLACEMENT
$ 1M
Mid-2023
300k
Impression/week
Designed for Relevance & Impact
Sponsored content is placed at the top of each section when it aligns with a listener’s interests, ensuring it feels natural in discovery.
For niche creators, dedicated editorial placements provide extra visibility without overwhelming the listener experience.
PROCESS
Design fast, test smart, iterate with cross-functional teams in a rapid agile environment under tight timeline & limited resource.
Discovered opportunities from data & stakeholders and worked the UI for more impression and gain quick feedbacks.
Ran creator interviews with business ops team to have deeper understanding. Optimized the solutions for niche content and relevantly.
Iterated the sponsored content orders for listener experiences after validating with users.
Quick Mocks
As sponsorship was new to PlayerFM, I created mocks to visualize high-reach placement options, informed by data and stakeholder discussions. These prototypes helped spark alignment on initial directions.
Creator Connection
Partnering with the Sales team, we conducted interviews with creators.
We learned that more niche content creators who have lower visibility, actively seek marketing opportunities. They want their contents shown alongside relevant, high-quality content, not random or mismatched shows.
Pivot Solution
Based on insights, I created editorial placements for niche content to increase visibility where standard placements underperformed.
Testflight Usability Testing
To balance creator visibility with listener experience under tight timelines, I led PlayerFM’s first TestFlight usability test. This allowed us to optimize placement strategies pre-release, ensuring minimal disruption to the listening experience.
Post-release A/B Testing & Monitoring for ROI & Further iteration
Following MVP launch, we tracked CTR and reach by placement type to understand ROI. These insights informed ongoing iterations to improve performance for both creators and listeners.
KEY LEARNING
Designing the Middle Ground
This project often felt like walking a tightrope. On one side, leadership wanted maximum impressions to make sponsorships attractive to creators. On the other, I knew that overexposing sponsored content could affect listener trust and break the flow of discovery.
I had to advocate for placements that weren’t just high-visibility, but high-quality — intentionally surfaced where they felt relevant and natural. By designing with both goals in mind, I found ways to deliver the reach creators wanted without sacrificing the experience listeners valued.
Full Deck
Curious about the twists and behind-the-scenes stories from development? I’d love to share more in my case study presentation.
See Full Deck