Waverly — Podcast Streaming Platform

The Challenge

Waverly wanted to enter the crowded podcast market with a differentiated experience. Existing platforms were cluttered, discovery was broken, and listeners struggled to find shows they’d love. Waverly needed a platform that made podcast discovery as effortless as music streaming.

Our Approach

We surveyed 2,000 podcast listeners and conducted deep-dive interviews with 50 power users to understand listening habits, discovery preferences, and pain points with existing platforms.

“They nailed the discovery experience. I’m finding podcasts I never would have stumbled on before — the personalized recommendations feel genuinely curated.”

The Solution

We created a listening experience built around discovery and engagement:

• Mood-based discovery that recommends podcasts based on activity, time of day, and listening history
• Episode previews with 30-second audio snippets for quick sampling before committing
• Smart playlists that auto-generate episode queues based on interests and available listening time
• Social listening features letting users share clips and see what friends are listening to
• Creator tools with audience analytics and engagement metrics

The Results

Waverly launched to strong adoption, hitting 500K monthly active users within six months. The mood-based discovery feature became the most-used entry point, and average session length exceeded industry benchmarks by 68%.