Defining a North Star and Guardrail Metrics for Podcasts on Netflix

You are a product manager at Netflix responsible for its podcast offering, Netflix Podcasts. Define the metrics you would use to judge whether it is working. Set the goal, walk through how members find and use podcasts, choose one north-star metric, and name the supporting metrics and guardrails you would track. ```hint Start from the business model Netflix earns money from memberships and, on some plans, ads. Decide which member behavior podcasts are meant to change, and how that behavior differs from watching a film or series, before choosing anything to count. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Are these video podcasts watched like other titles, audio-only shows, or both, and on which devices do members use them? - Are podcasts included in every membership plan, sold as an add-on, or open to people who are not members? - How long has the offering been live: are we judging a new launch or tuning an established feature? - Are the shows licensed from outside podcast networks, produced by Netflix, or a mix? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal tied to how Netflix makes money (retention, engagement, ad inventory) and to the product's stage - A member journey for podcasts with metrics at each step that reflect podcast behavior: frequent episodes, long sessions, listening while doing something else - One north-star metric with a precise definition, a qualifying threshold, and a reason it beats the alternatives - Guardrails for cannibalizing film and series viewing, home-page trade-offs and content cost - A way to show that podcasts cause better retention rather than merely correlate with it ### Follow-up Questions - Members who use podcasts cancel less often than members who do not. How would you find out whether podcasts caused that? - After launch, podcast hours grew but total viewing hours per member stayed flat. Is that success or failure? - How would your metrics change if podcasts were mainly meant to add ad inventory on the ad-supported plan?