Spotify Podcast Ads: What You Need To Know

Spotify has been in the advertising game for quite some time, playing ads through their advanced algorithm to play the right ad at the right time for the right person (read more about Spotify Ads targeting here). But for a long time it was only ads in between music played by a user on a free account.

Introducing Spotify Podcast Ads

Podcasts have the potential to form strong connections with their listeners. This connection creates a unique opportunity for brands to connect with people in a trusted, direct, and engaging media environment. 

This gives marketers a huge advantage as a whopping 41% of Spotify podcast listeners trust ads more if they hear them during a podcast. Podcast advertising works: 81% of listeners take action after listening to a podcast ad according to 1 Crowd DNA & Spotify, “We’re All Ears,” US, 2018. Despite this, advertisers could not fully see the return on their investment for years due to lagging ad technology. Spotify changed that when they launched Streaming Ad Insertion in 2018, an industry-changing podcast ad technology that enables advertisers to plan, report, and measure their podcast ads based on data.

Initially on alpha and beta testing in the US only, there has been a lot of feedback from users and Spotify collectively to make the ad experience non-intrusive and forever improving to ensure the ad engages with the right people. 

 

“In 2020, time spent with digital audio outpaced stalwarts like social and digital video. Podcasts have been the driving force in audio’s renaissance. Today, nearly 1 in 4 or over 5 million Brits listen to podcasts and in 2019, listeners spent over 60-minutes per day listening to their favourite podcasts mostly to stay up to date, to be entertained, and to learn new things.” – Spotify Website

What Does This Mean For Spotify Ads?

Spotify Ads is forever growing and with the introduction of Spotify Podcast Ads, it offers ads to any standard member when listening to music and you can pay a premium to have an ad free music experience. However with Spotify Podcast Ads, these will be played to the millions of podcast listeners who have premium accounts that you would miss with normal Spotify Ad campaigns. 

 

“We’re bringing the full power of Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) to the United Kingdom. Spotify Podcast Ads are now available to UK advertisers across our most popular Original and Exclusive titles” – Spotify Website

 

Millions of listeners around the world rely on podcasts for news, entertainment, and information. Spotify’s global user behaviour supports this trend. Spotify as a platform now has 25% of it’s users listening to podcasts, and listenership continues to grow at triple-digit rates year over year.

While there has been steady growth in podcasts, they’ve exploded in popularity for U.K. listeners in particular. There was an 11.4% increase in U.K. podcast listeners across all platforms between 2019 and 2020. This number is expected to grow more each year.

So with the increase in listeners, it would be the perfect opportunity to get into the Spotify Ads market sooner rather than later.

Conclusion

The Spotify Ads platform is changing and we now get to see the potential first hand here in the UK. This is a huge shift in the market due to it applying to premium customers to Spotify too, there shouldn’t be many complaints from this either as podcast listeners are more supportive of the podcasts and will happily listen to the ads and even engage with them.

 

While It is tricky for advertisers to get on Spotify if you are not VAT registered, Optimyzd are here to help get your message to this huge market and we are happy to answer any questions you may have and do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about Spotify Podcast Ads, Spotify advertising in general, or any other advertising questions.

Want to find out more? Get in touch with us today!