Economist Radio

A native audio experience designed to deliver premium, paywalled podcast content across mobile, tablet, and in-car platforms.

The Economist offered a growing portfolio of podcast content, primarily accessed through a web-based player and bundled as part of its subscription offering.

While valuable to existing members, the experience limited discoverability, reduced engagement, and lacked the accessibility expected from modern audio platforms. The opportunity was to rethink how premium audio could be experienced, discovered, and monetized in a mobile-first world.

Design a platform that could:

• Deliver a best-in-class native podcast experience for subscribers
• Introduce non-members to content through structured sampling and upsell
• Navigate complex content structures including shows, episodes, and chapters
• Extend seamlessly across devices and contexts, including in-car listening

At the time, delivering paywalled podcast content within a dedicated app experience was still emerging, requiring new UX patterns.

The complexity of the content model shaped the core design problem:

• Episodes were divided into chapters, some free and some behind a paywall
• Multiple shows varied significantly in format, length, and structure
• Users needed to browse, filter, and assemble content based on their interests

This required balancing editorial richness with a clear, intuitive navigation model.

The design focused on flexibility, control, and continuity:

• Created browsing models that scaled across shows, episodes, and chapters
• Enabled users to personalize content by topic, effectively building their own listening experience
• Designed clear pathways between free and premium content to support conversion
• Ensured consistency of experience across devices while respecting platform conventions

Delivered a multi-platform native experience:

• Designed adaptive interfaces for phone and tablet, optimizing layout and interaction for each form factor
• Created companion experiences for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to support seamless in-car listening
• Rapidly iterated through prototypes in close collaboration with the core product team in New York

Established a forward-looking model for delivering premium, structured podcast content within a native app ecosystem.

The work informed how paywalled audio could be experienced as a first-class product, blending editorial depth with platform-native usability across mobile and in-car environments.