Personalization looks different on Spotify, LinkedIn, and TikTok, but in all three cases it quietly drives the metrics that matter most to the business. On Spotify, everything is built around getting you to listen a little longer. Playlists like Discover Weekly or Daily Mixes feel “hand-picked,” and the app is constantly adjusting based on what you skip and/or replay. When Spotify gets this right, you stay on the app, you build a habit, and you’re far more likely to stick with Premium. Because churn is expensive for subscription businesses, every extra minute of listening has real value, the ROI here shows up as higher retention and more paid conversions.
LinkedIn uses personalization to get you to come back more often. The feed, the job alerts, and even the “People You May Know” section are all meant to give you a small reason to open the app again. More frequent sessions mean more chances to show ads and more opportunities for recruiters to reach the right people. The return LinkedIn gets from personalization isn’t as flashy or interesting, but it’s steady. Each extra visit increases engagement across the entire platform and strengthens the network effect that makes LinkedIn hard to replace.
TikTok’s version is the most aggressive and also the most tied to revenue. The For You Page is personalized almost instantly; as you scroll, it learns. When the videos feel perfectly tuned to you, you end up watching for much longer, and TikTok can serve ads that feel more relevant. That relevance is exactly what advertisers pay for. The better TikTok is at understanding what you’ll watch, the more advertisers spend, so the ROI of personalization shows up almost immediately in higher ad performance and budgets.
