For JioSaavn's podcast feature, should we emphasize exclusive content creation or focus on aggregating popular third-party podcasts?

Introduction

The trade-off we're examining today is whether JioSaavn's podcast feature should emphasize exclusive content creation or focus on aggregating popular third-party podcasts. This decision is crucial for JioSaavn's growth strategy in the competitive audio streaming market. I'll analyze this trade-off by considering user needs, business objectives, and market dynamics. My response will cover clarifying questions, product understanding, hypothesis formulation, metrics identification, experiment design, data analysis, and a final recommendation.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Context: I'm thinking about JioSaavn's current market position. Could you share our current market share in the Indian audio streaming space, particularly for podcasts?

Why it matters: Helps gauge our competitive strength and growth potential. Expected answer: 15-20% market share for music, lower for podcasts. Impact: Lower share might push towards exclusive content for differentiation.

• Business Context: Based on our revenue model, I assume podcasts contribute to both subscription and ad revenue. What's the current split between these for podcasts specifically?

Why it matters: Informs monetization strategy for podcast content. Expected answer: 70% ad revenue, 30% subscription revenue. Impact: Higher ad revenue might favor aggregation for reach.

• User Impact: I'm curious about our user segments. What percentage of our active users engage with podcasts regularly?

Why it matters: Determines the potential impact and importance of this decision. Expected answer: 20-30% of active users engage with podcasts weekly. Impact: Lower engagement might suggest focusing on exclusive, high-quality content.

• Technical: Considering our current infrastructure, how easily can we scale our content hosting and delivery for exclusive podcasts?

Why it matters: Affects feasibility and cost of exclusive content strategy. Expected answer: Moderate difficulty, would require some investment. Impact: Higher difficulty might lean towards aggregation strategy.

• Resource: What's our current team capacity for managing relationships with podcast creators and producing original content?

Why it matters: Influences our ability to execute an exclusive content strategy. Expected answer: Small team, would need to expand significantly. Impact: Limited capacity might favor aggregation in the short term.