The Served Podcast:
A Deep Dive into Fans, Favorites, and Brand Impact
LISTENER LANDSCAPE
BACKGROUND
Served is gaining traction as one of the most relevant and refreshing podcasts in tennis—but what exactly is resonating with listeners? As a long-time fan of the show and a researcher by trade, I wanted to understand what keeps people coming back—and where there might be room to evolve.
Goals of this study:
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Uncover what listeners love (and what they skip)
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Identify high-impact opportunities to strengthen engagement
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Evaluate brand recall and sponsorship effectiveness
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Deliver actionable recommendations grounded in data and fan voice
This wasn’t a client brief—it was a passion project. My goal was to offer thoughtful, constructive insight to help Served keep winning with fans and sponsors alike.
This was a solo project from start to finish:
I designed, programmed, and distributed a custom listener survey (n=70) to a panel and built an insights deck focused on content strategy and sponsor performance.
All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of Served.
INSIDE THE RESEARCH
APPROACH
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📊 Quant: Survey measuring satisfaction, engagement patterns, and sponsor recall
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🎙Qual: Open-ended audio questions included for deeper context and emotion
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🧠 Mixed-method synthesis: Pulling out trends, tensions, and opportunities
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🎁 Output: A deck packed with insights, pretty graphs💅, and fan-backed recommendations
WHAT I UNCOVERED
DISCOVERY
Here's what I heard loud and clear:
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Fans love deep match breakdowns—especially for Masters-level tournaments, which some find more compelling than even the Slams
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They crave candid interviews with players and insiders—but skip episodes focused on betting or off-court content
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They’re loyal—92% satisfied and 96% would recommend the podcast
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Served is making an impact on sponsors—Wilson and Olipop saw over 50% unaided recall and strong intent to purchase (55–84%)
IMPACT ON SERVED
OUTCOME
The data tells a clear story: Served is doing so much right—and has the trust and attention to go even deeper. The findings offer a roadmap for shaping future content around what fans value most, while showing real proof of sponsorship effectiveness.
My hope is that this work can help the Served team keep doing what you do best: making tennis content that’s sharp, passionate, and fan-first.