Spotify upgrades Prompted Playlists to now include podcasts
Spotify’s AI-powered Prompted Playlists now work for podcasts too, opening up new discovery paths for creators beyond just music.
Spotify expands Prompted Playlists to podcasts
Spotify is taking its AI Prompted Playlists feature beyond music, letting users generate personalized playlists using text prompts for podcasts.
Prompted Playlists originally launched in New Zealand as part of an early beta test at the end of last year, before later expanding beta access to Premium users in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Sweden.
Instead of browsing or relying on the algorithm to serve up suggestions, users can simply describe what they want to listen to. Spotify then builds a playlist around that idea.
Now, that same concept applies to podcasts.
How to use Spotify’s Prompted Playlists for podcasts
Prompting playlists for podcasts works in the same way it does for music. Users can describe the exact type of playlist they want. Spotify combines that prompt with the user’s listening history, and its broader understanding of charts and trends to generate a playlist tailored to each user.
Spotify still explains why each episode or chapter landed is included, adding a layer of transparency to the recommendations.
Just like it works for music, users can:
- Tap “Create” and choose Prompted Playlist to get started
- Edit the prompt at any time
- Choose how often the playlist refreshes (daily or weekly, for example)
- Use (or customize) Spotify’s suggested prompt “Ideas”
Spotify’s suggested prompts
Speaking of which, Spotify provides some example prompts you could use.
If you’d like to catch up on pop culture, prompt:
“Create a podcast playlist with the biggest entertainment news from the past few days. Include all things music, film, fashion, and major cultural moments.”
If you’d like to get lost in a true crime mystery, prompt:
“Make a playlist of true crime investigations you think I’d be interested in. Add highly rated series with lots of twists and turns.”
Another step in Spotify’s podcast push
Since first launching podcasts in 2019, Spotify has been making podcasts a core part of its platform. Video podcasts quickly followed, and they’ve come a long way.
The numbers reflect that growth too. At the end of 2025, it was revealed that there were over 530,000 video podcasts on the platform, with podcast watch time doubling year-on-year.
Earlier this year, Spotify lowered the threshold to monetize video podcasts, making it easier for creators to start earning earlier in their journey.
Now, 34 million podcasts are discovered for the first time every week on Spotify. Adding in the Prompted Playlist feature only makes the discovery process for podcast creators even easier.
“Podcast fans are always looking for their next great listen. Prompted Playlist makes discovery feel effortless and personal. For creators, it unlocks powerful new opportunities for discovery, bringing both back catalog and new episodes to audiences who are actively signaling what they want to hear.”
Lizzy Hale, Spotify’s Global Head of Podcast Editorial
Still in testing for now
As with the music version, Prompted Playlists is still in beta. Its podcast iteration is currently rolling out to Premium users in supported markers and is limited to English-language prompts. There are also usage limits in place, which could change as Spotify learns from user experience to refine the feature.
In other words, this isn’t the finished product just yet. But, it does reinforce Spotify’s direction of becoming more than just a music streaming service.
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