How to Advertise on Spotify

Introduction to Spotify Advertisements

Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with 433m users, including 188m subscribers, across 183 markets.1

Spotify has a wide variety of ad formats available that have evolved significantly over time. Currently, their most popular ad formats are Streaming, Podcasts, Homepage Takeovers (HPTO), and Custom Playlists. At Ad Results Media, we specialize in helping our clients make the most of their investment with ads on Spotify’s streaming and podcast products. We have found that endorsement ads, rather than pre-produced ads, can provide the greatest return on investment.

Why Brands Are Advertising on Spotify

There are a number of reasons why brands find advertising on Spotify to be very appealing: reach & scale, ease of buying, and premium inventory.

Reach & Scale:

Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service. They are able to scale your ad investments across streaming music and podcasts and have made significant investments in ad innovation.

Ease of Buying:

Spotify has the sales and ad infrastructure in place to easily service brands of all sizes. They offer mostly programmatic inventory and can work with advertisers to target their desired target audiences across all of their platforms. Their ad offering is very similar in structure to those of programmatic digital and video — which makes it feel more familiar for brands already well-versed in other forms of programmatic.

Premium Inventory:

One of Spotify’s greatest appeals to marketers is its premium inventory that includes some of the largest shows out there like: The Joe Rogan Experience, Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, and Call Her Daddy.

Types of Spotify Ads

Spotify offers a unique combination of audio, video ad display ads that can be used in conjunction with one another for the same campaign.

• Audio: Endorsement ads
• Audio: Produced ads
• Video: Pre-roll
• Video: Mid-roll
• Display: Companion CTA cards with Podcasts

Podcast ads

• Podcast ads are served across mobile, desktop, tablet, web players, gaming consoles, smart TVs, connected speakers, in-car, and wearables.
• The max length is 30 seconds for pre-roll ads and 60 seconds for mid-roll ads. If you’re running both pre-rolls and mid-rolls, keep your message within 30 seconds to hold the listener’s attention and avoid skipping.
• Learn More: https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/ad-experiences/podcast-ads/

Video & Display ads

Spotify video ads are 15 or 30-second video spots combined with a companion display banner and customizable call-to-action to help you drive engagement. We highly recommend using CTA cards as an enhancement to your display ad. Podcast ads often use vanity URLs or promo codes to track success and with a CTA card display ad the user is given a direct prompt to complete the advertiser’s desired action.

• Learn More: https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/ad-experiences/video-ads/
• Learn More: https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/custom-experiences/

Sponsored Playlists

• The Sponsored Playlist ad product offers the opportunity to sponsor some of Spotify’s most popular owned & operated playlists. To further drive engagement with native ad placements and in-playlist media, marketers can add audio ad and video ad
• Learn More: https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/ad-experiences/sponsored-playlist-ad-specs/

How Much Does it Cost to Advertise on Spotify?

The cost to advertise on Spotify varies widely and is impacted by several variables but they will work with advertisers to develop a plan that meets most budgets and goals.

Variables that Impact Cost

• Show Type or Popularity
• Impression Volume
• Specific Talent
• Advertiser Demand

Is Advertising on Spotify Effective?

Spotify, just like all of our other network partners, provides us with top-performing shows on a client-by-client basis such as The Joe Rogan Experience, Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, Call Her Daddy, The Bill Simmons Podcast, and even more. They’ve helped our clients reach new audiences, drive impactful creative executions, and drive results. In terms of effectiveness, Ad Results Media will work with any show that is proven to drive sales and impact for brands and we enjoy partnering with Spotify.

How to Create a Spotify Ad

For endorsement campaigns, which we believe are the most effective, Ad Results Media will work directly with the Spotify team and the show hosts to create high-performing and authentic creative. There are also helpful automated processes that can assist marketers with generating produced ads at scale. Both types of creative can be additive to your overall marketing mix, but we really believe in the power of endorsement ads on Spotify.

How to Measure the Success of a Spotify Ad Campaign

• Measuring a brand’s success on Spotify should not be different or distinct than measuring success with other partners. We firmly believe that driving measurable business impact should be the expectation of all marketers and we use the performance data provided by Spotify to report on how each of our individual campaigns are performing in relation to achieving client objectives.
• Learn More: https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/news-and-insights/how-to-measure-digital-audio-ads/

Turn to the Experts

For more information on how to include Spotify advertising in your overall media mix, please reach out to the team at Ad Results Media for a consultation.

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Sources:

1https://newsroom.spotify.com/company-info