Spotify is the world’s largest streaming platform for audio formats such as music, podcasts, and audio books. This also makes the service increasingly interesting for companies: With Spotify Ads, there are a wide variety of advertising formats to choose from. With these, you can reach a large target group and draw attention to your brand.
Spotify recently started offering the practical self-service platform Spotify Ad Studio in Germany as well. This makes it even easier for you to distribute target group-specific advertising on Spotify. In this article, we will show you why the service is so well suited for ads and which formats are available to you.
How does Spotify display ads to its customers?
To understand how advertising works on Spotify, let’s take a look at Spotify’s tariffs.
On the one hand, a free membership is offered. Users play the content in lower quality, must always be online to stream, and do not have access to many features of the service. This model is financed by showing advertisements: advertisements in different formats are played between the songs or during a longer stream. These are exactly the people you are targeting with your ads on Spotify.
On the other hand, there is also Spotify Premium: users can use the application completely without advertising. Spotify has approximately 356 million monthly active users worldwide. Of these, around 158 million have a premium subscription – so there are still 198 million users who use the free tariff and are shown in the advertising. If that’s not a reason to run your campaign on Spotify.
Advertising on Spotify: why does it work so well?
Businesses today have a variety of ways to advertise to do marketing. Spotify is suitable for several reasons.
On the one hand, there are the already mentioned high user numbers. 190 million users receive advertising every month. So you have the chance to reach a lot of users with your ads.
On the other hand, Spotify is a constantly growing platform: more and more people are using the service. Both the number of users with a free account and those with a paid account are increasing year after year.
Whether the service is also suitable for your campaign depends heavily on your target group. Spotify is the best way to reach young people between the ages of 14 and 29. They make up more than half of the users.
However, the figures also show that almost 25 percent of users are 40 and older. It is therefore possible for companies to address different target groups. This flexibility makes Spotify increasingly attractive to different industries and brands.
The age of the users is also of great importance in relation to the format. Because the interest in audio content has been increasing for years. Gen Z and Millennials in particular are becoming increasingly open to this format: they listen to music, podcasts, or other audio formats for about an hour a day. A 2020 survey found that 83 percent of Millennials and Gen Z stream audio content. This number is also increasing every year. And that brings you some advantages too.
- You can address the listener directly: This makes your advertising much more personal and reaches people better
- You can incorporate storytelling, work with noises and special voices
- Anyone who uses Spotify in the car or while jogging also has no access to other digital media at this point. So the user focuses on your ad
The point in time at which people perceive it is often decisive for successful advertising. This is more flexible with Spotify than with almost any other platform: It is used in a wide variety of activities and situations, be it in the morning after getting up when cooking with the family or to relax after a long day at work.
Another plus point for Spotify Ads: We are confronted with advertising in a wide variety of places. In most cases, this takes place visually: be it a billboard, an online ad, or a commercial on television. Many users are tired of being bombarded with so many ads and therefore hide them almost automatically.
The situation is different with the audio format: Advertising that is only perceived through the ears is quite rare and is therefore not perceived as particularly annoying by many users.
So Spotify Ads combines several advantages for you and your campaigns that you should not miss out on.
What is the new Ad Studio and what are the benefits?
Since March 24, 2021, you can easily manage your ads via the Ad Studio. Spotify itself describes this self-service advertising platform as uncomplicated: you have various targeting tools at your disposal with which you can easily reach your target group.
Ad Studio helps you find them, tailor your message to them, and reach them in a specific, real-time context. You will also receive reports in real-time, which will give you information about the success of your previous measures.
The Ad Studio is therefore also suitable for you if you have no experience with audio advertising – here the requirements and conditions are different than with other media.
How much do Spotify Ads cost? The minimum budget for a campaign is just 250 euros. You can use the various aids completely free of charge. You have full control over your ads at all times and can make changes with just a few clicks.
Place Spotify Ads: these are the various Spotify advertising formats at a glance
Spotify offers you various options for advertising on the platform. These are both audio and display offerings.
Before you decide on an advertising format, you should ask yourself which one best suits your content and your target audience. Of course, it also makes sense to position yourself broadly and use different advertising formats. In this chapter, we will show you which ones are available to you.
The classic: audio ads
If you use Spotify for free, short ads will be played between individual songs. These so-called audio ads last a maximum of 30 seconds and can even be supplemented. To do this, you use a display companion banner that you use to link to your website or app. If users find your ad interesting, they can obtain further information directly.
You can encourage listeners to do this by including a call-to-action in your clip and encouraging them to download your app, for example.
Reach the listener in thoughtful moments with podcast ads
With podcast ads, you can reach the listener when they are paying attention: your audio spot is placed in a particularly relevant content environment. Your target group will be addressed in intimate listening moments, which offers a great opportunity for you. You can prompt the listener to take a specific action at the right moment to encourage engagement.
The practical thing is that podcast ads not only play on mobile devices and desktops but also on web players, game consoles, smart TVs, smart speakers, in-cars, and wearables.
If that sounds interesting to you, but you don’t have any experience with audio clips, Spotify can help you further: The service takes over the complete recording of the spot for you. You create a suitable storyline for your target group, write the speech text and create a short briefing. Here you can set important notes, such as pronunciation or background noise.
You transmit this information to Spotify – the service takes care of the production of your podcast ad and you can start right away. This is a really practical solution, especially for entrepreneurs who do not have the technical means to record a professional clip themselves.
Advertise cautiously with sponsored sessions
Sponsored Sessions are video ads that do not contain audio. They are only displayed if the user is actively using the app. Spotify thus ensures that the content is actually viewed. When the video is played, a display ad appears on which you can place links.
Sponsored sessions are a maximum of 30 seconds long. They do not interrupt the listening experience and are therefore not perceived as particularly annoying. Once your sponsored session has been played, users can then stream for 30 minutes without further commercial breaks. This has the advantage for you that your content will be remembered.
Maximum reach with a video takeover
If users are actively looking for music or a podcast, the so-called video takeover ads are placed. These consist of a video with a maximum length of 30 seconds. However, this is only played if the user is active in the app – this significantly increases your reach. Spotify even speaks of an industry-leading viewability here.
The ad consists of a companion banner and a call to action. You can choose your favorite from the available texts. You are offered classic slogans such as “Learn more”, “Buy now” or “Download”. With a suitable CTA, you clarify your message and encourage the audience to engage further with your brand.
Increase brand awareness with Sponsored Playlists
With the so-called sponsored playlists you promote your brand awareness. Spotify’s streaming intelligence helps you with this: it creates playlists for specific target groups. These are then played native advertisements that hit their nerve. You then place your advertising in the form of a background image, for example.
You can also add your logo and your advertising slogan. If it is important to you to address a clearly defined group of people, this format is particularly suitable.
Get users’ attention with an overlay ad
When a user opens the Spotify app, an overlay ad is displayed. Your ad will then be the first thing they see when they return to the app. Spotify promises advertisers a high brand impact. This increases your chances that the user will click on your ad.
Such overlay ads can be displayed on mobile devices as well as in the desktop application. You have the option of adding calls-to-actions – the building blocks already presented are available to you. However, GIF animations are not supported.
Homepage Takeover: 24 hours on the homepage
With the Homepage Takeover function, you can place your ad for 24 hours directly on the Spotify homepage. However, this is only placed in the desktop application or the Spotify WebApp.
Your ad consists of two parts. The first is the background graphic. It is best to present your offer briefly and concisely here and get to the heart of your statement. This is supplemented by an interactive element. Branding elements such as your logo or the link to your website work best for this.
Alternatively, you can also follow Spotify’s recommendation: The streaming service recommends entrepreneurs integrate a video from YouTube here. If you are active on this platform and regularly post content there, it is a good opportunity to also distribute it via Spotify.
Spread your message effectively with a leaderboard ad
If you want to ensure that your campaign will have a wide reach, leaderboard ads are a good choice. These can be a maximum of 30 seconds and are only played when the user uses the app. Again, Spotify makes sure for you that the user has the application in view when your leaderboard is displayed. In addition, this form of display is always the only message that is displayed on the screen.
You even have the option to add animation to your ad or use rich media banners. For the latter, however, you need a backup ad that can be played as a substitute. Keep in mind that leaderboard ads cannot have audio and cannot be played as a video.
Why you should take a closer look at podcast ads
We have already explained to you in the previous chapters that Spotify is a wonderful opportunity for advertisers. Podcast ads in particular offer great opportunities for many entrepreneurs.
Of the millions of users, 22 percent listen to podcasts regularly. According to Spotify, the number of podcast listeners even doubled in 2020. It is therefore an upward trend, the peak of which has certainly not yet been reached.
Let’s take a look at the figures for the German market: Spotify itself states that 27 percent of Spotify users here regularly listen to podcasts and are therefore a promising target group for audio marketing.
There are also other interesting facts: This auditory form of advertising reaches people on a completely different level than the options previously used. Studies show, for example, that listening to a podcast pays particular attention. Of course, this benefits you and your advertising: if you don’t listen to a TV commercial, podcast listeners follow your audio ad carefully.
Podcast ads also help you reach a specific audience, as shown by OMR’s 2021 Podcast Survey. As part of this survey, a wide variety of facts about podcast listeners were collected. It has been shown, for example, that they have above-average education. More than 85 percent of them have at least completed their high school diploma. Over 55 percent even have an academic degree.
This shows that many participants in the survey have a very good net income of over 2,500 euros per month. This makes them a promising target group for many industries and companies. Incidentally, according to the OMR survey, the gender distribution among podcast listeners is quite balanced: 60 percent of the listeners are men, and 40 percent are women.
As an advertiser, you might also be interested in why people listen to podcasts. Two reasons dominate entertainment and information gathering. You should always keep this in mind with your podcast ads and use it to your advantage. Your ad should either entertain the listener or educate them. Only then will it not be perceived as a disruptive interruption.
After all, 60 percent of the participants in the survey stated that they do not mind advertising a suitable product in their favorite podcast, but rather find it pleasant.
Conclusion: Spotify Ads offer you extensive possibilities that you should definitely use
All doors are open to you with Spotify: the platform is one of the largest in the world for streaming audio content. More and more people use them to listen to music or podcasts. You reach a correspondingly large number of people with your advertising.
Spotify gives you a wide variety of advertising formats to choose from. In addition, display advertising is only displayed to active users of the app, so that you can achieve a large reach. Thanks to the new Ad Studio advertising platform, you can set up and activate your ads with just a few clicks.
You should take a special look at the podcast ads: With them, you reach an educated target group that earns above average and is also open to suitable advertising. So don’t miss this chance and start your first ad on Spotify soon.