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Spotify and Budweiser Rock Manchester With Live Music, a Tattoo Studio, Exclusive Merch, and More

December 12, 2024

Since Spotify launched AUX Live Experiences for U.S. advertisers earlier this year, brands like FanDuel and Samsung have tapped into our offering to build cultural relevance, connect with their audiences in real life, and cultivate fresh fandoms.

On Wednesday, we expanded our live-events offering to the U.K., with Budweiser as our first partner. Together, we hosted a special “Music Depot” experience at Manchester’s iconic Diecast venue, a former metalworks factory. The evening brought together more than 500 fans for an exclusive, high-energy celebration of live music and culture.

“Spotify is committed to deepening the connections between artists, brands, and fans. With AUX Live Experiences, we’ve seen that our branded live events are cultural moments that get people talking and deliver results for advertisers,” said Ed Couchman, Head of U.K. & Northern Europe Sales at Spotify. “We were excited to bring our AUX Live Experience with Budweiser to life in Manchester, offering local music fans an unforgettable experience.”

Hailing from Stockport, Greater Manchester, Blossoms headlined the event, bringing their signature indie rock to a hometown crowd. The band was supported by indie-pop duo Good Neighbours, and DJs Rowena Alice, Chaise, and Tinea Taylor spun sets throughout the evening.

Culture Next 2024: The Major Gen Z Trends That Are Shaping Audio Streaming

November 4, 2024

As Gen Zers continue to put their stamp on the world, the conversation around these tastemakers is becoming noisier than ever. Understanding what inspires, captivates, and drives this generation is not always clear. But for many Gen Zers, Spotify is an essential companion, and we that believe the music, podcasts, and playlists that soundtrack their lives offer valuable insight into the mindset of this generation.

That’s why each year we release our Culture Next report to highlight the different ways Gen Z is shaping streaming, online culture, and the world at large—and to help advertisers connect with them in meaningful ways.

For the 2024 Culture Next report, we developed our insights using a couple of approaches. First, we looked at our streaming data to establish a broad snapshot of what—and how—Gen Z streams on Spotify.

Second, we talked to Gen Zers all around the world to gain their individual perspectives on how streaming fits into their day-to-day lives. This helped us shape our three main Culture Next report insights:

Gen Z loves using Spotify to build and strengthen personal connections.
Gen Z turns to Spotify to soundtrack the milestone moments in their lives.
Gen Z tastes continue to veer toward the mainstream.

For the Record sat down with three Gen Z influencers—Eric Sedeño, Jules Terpak, and Clarke Peoples—to get an even more personal glimpse into how today’s rising tastemakers consume and discover content on Spotify.

What is your favorite Spotify feature to use?

Eric Sedeño: My favorite feature right now is Jam because I just moved in with my boyfriend and it’s so fun to put on music together in our house.

Jules Terpak: I’m simple, so I tend to adore the basics, but I have to admit that I’ve been really impressed with DJ. Aside from Smart Shuffle, I’ve been tapping into DJ when I’m in the mood to discover new music. The commentary and transitions from X have great energy.

Clarke Peoples: I love daylist. It always has such fun titles and good music based on the time of day.

How do you think Spotify is creating a sense of community and connection on its platform?

Eric: Through the amazing personalization features—especially Spotify Wrapped. Wrapped has become one of the biggest days for people on socials, and music feels so shareable with Spotify. It’s so easy to put a song on your Instagram story that I’m always shocked when someone doesn’t use it.

Jules: I think music bridges the digital and physical worlds the best out of all the industries right now. Podcasts are also starting getting into in-person events, which is beautiful to see.

I do think people online throw around the word “community” far too lightly, when in reality what’s often being created is more of a network. I have a hard time calling anything a community until there’s a physical-world component.

Luckily the world of music, podcasts, and audiobooks can translate to the physical world quite seamlessly, so I hope that’ll evolve further in the future.

Clarke: I love that you can create collaborative playlists with friends! I love doing this before having people over.

What are some of the unique ways you use Spotify?

Eric: I’ve been using the new AI Playlist feature a lot, and I don’t think people really utilize that feature enough yet.

Jules: I think the fact that I use all three content offerings—music, podcasts, and audiobooks—is unique. A lot of my friends hadn’t realized that audiobooks are now a perk of Premium. Not to sound salesly, but they’ll be on the wave eventually.

I also post all of my YouTube videos that aren’t podcasts to Spotify. It’s something I don’t think video creators are taking advantage of. However people want to access my work, I’m down for it.

Clarke: I live for my daylist and video podcasts. I love the uniqueness of daylist and watching my favorite podcasters!

How do you think video content is changing the streaming experience?

Eric: I think that it has made it so much more fun. I love watching podcasts on Spotify. Also, outside of the app, I think video has made it way easier for people to find Spotify content that speaks to them, because so many clips and snippets from shows are shared on social media.

Jules: Video becoming such an integral part of podcasts definitely makes them inch closer to talk shows rather than radio shows. For creators, this adds more to the production process, but for viewers, I think video provides more context and stimulation.

That said, I do feel audio-only podcasts will develop a certain comforting aura around them that some fans will prefer.

Clarke: Personally, I love it. I think it is so engaging for audiences and helps viewers to get to know creators better.

Describe Gen Z in three words.

Eric: Fast. Overwhelmed. Unserious.

Jules: Outspoken, malleable, and entertaining.

Clarke: Collaborative, tenacious, and open-minded.

Can you share a few of the recent playlist titles you’ve created?

Eric: My most recent is Run Rico Run because I was training for the NYC marathon.

Jules: Jules Gems is my master playlist (and the only one I currently have public). I’m the type to have hyperfixations and be loyal to a song that catches my attention forever, so that’s where they live.

The Scenario is my playlist that outlines a recent pivotal life transition. The name is so corny now that I think about it, but it was super spur-of-the-moment. I didn’t give it much thought.

Otherwise, I typically name my playlists by year and dump whatever songs resonated with me during that time frame. Or I do an artist’s name as the title and dump all of my favorite songs from them—again, to feed the hyperfixations.

Clarke: Girls night, Summer in Paris, Flashback Favorites.

What are you currently listening to?

Eric: My favorite podcasts are The Comment Section with Drew Afualo, I’ve Had It, and Good Children. I was also listening to a self-help audiobook called Atomic Habits for a while and that was a nice change of pace.

Jules: A recent artist is 2hollis. And a recent audiobook is Alone Together by Sherry Turkle.

Clarke: I’ve been loving podcasts recently! I listen to them on my 14-mile walks.

Scratching the surface

These are just a few of many takeaways found in our Culture Next 2024 report. For more insights, statistics, and recommendations for brands looking to connect with Gen Z on Spotify, you can download the full report here.

For more Gen Z insights and trends, be sure to visit Spotify Advertising.

Dive Into ‘Screaming Creativity,’ a New Podcast Hosted by WPP’s Chief Creative Officer, Rob Reilly

September 19, 2023

What does it mean to be creative and who determines what creativity is? In Screaming Creativity, a new video podcast from WPP—the world’s largest marketing and communications company—listeners will be inspired to chew on those questions through frank conversations hosted by WPP Chief Creative Officer Rob Reilly. Each episode will feature influential creatives, ranging from C-Suite executives to musicians, comedians to corporate brand leaders. They’ll engage in candid conversations on their creative journeys, breakthrough career moments, the impact of technology on creativity, the ever-evolving industry landscape, and much more.

As a driving force behind some of the most iconic campaigns in the advertising industry, Rob Reilly brings a wealth of experience and an unmatched passion for creative excellence, and he couldn’t be more excited to work with Spotify on the production.

“Our goal at WPP is to be the most creative company in the world,” he noted in an interview with For the Record. “We want to work alongside, and be compared to a brand like Spotify. I’m a big supporter of Spotify’s brand and mission. It’s seen as a highly creative company, utilizing data in very targeted and fun ways for advertising and marketing. I’m fascinated to see what Spotify does next.”

What’s the thinking behind Screaming Creativity?

I love ideas that are loud. When an idea lands in culture and the press writes about it, ideas share and spread. Understanding that pipeline is the foundation of my entire creative process and how I judge ideas—I used to make people present the headline they’d want to win when the idea lands. I loved the idea of turning that concept into a podcast by talking to CMOs and people within WPP. It’s like a masterclass, listening to some of these people.

It’s been so fun so far. I especially love the “rising star” segment where we feature younger people at WPP, but it’s also so fun to speak to creatives like Marlon Wayans—we have a two-part episode with him, and his family is such a standout brand in comedy and entertainment—and feeling like this could be the future, that maybe this can expand to more people talking about creativity and the things we’ve created that the world can’t ignore.

What’s been your experience with audio storytelling?

One of my first assignments as a copywriter was in radio. As a young creative in the ‘90s, you had to learn how to captivate people and tell a story without pictures. I was always a strong radio writer, and I’ve always been fascinated by creating these worlds with audio.

The first thing I did at my job at McCann, in New York, on the Coca-Cola account, was writing little signs on convenience store windows and radio for Coca-Cola. I did a radio campaign that was very popular called Coke Journal, and we brought Chris Rock onto it to develop it for some of the urban radio stations. It was called “Rock Logic,” and he was great. I saw him 25 years later and reminded him of working together and he said, “I’m available!”

What changes have you seen in audio consumption recently? What excites you about the future of the medium?

The pandemic really put a spotlight on audio, and podcasts in general. I wasn’t listening to many beforehand and now I listen to dozens. The pandemic has changed so many things. How we all work, what a workplace is, our values, what we want out of life. But a lot of the last three years has created a reliance on content, especially when we couldn’t leave the house. For three years, we were listening to The Daily and getting into a routine. Or we were passing the time with The Rewatchables, or Smartless. And there’s something calming, about hearing people talk. People’s reliance upon audio is going to continue to rise, because the content is just getting more and more interesting.

The podcast covers breakthrough career moments. Do you have any of these of your own?

I was one of those people in New York who worked at a big agency, and had a big job making a decent amount of money. I was maybe 33 or 34. But I realized that I wanted to create that “famous” work for myself. So I made the decision to cut my title and my salary and start over as a copywriter in Miami. I wasn’t married and I didn’t have kids, and I decided to take the risk. I thought I was on a path at being good, but not having enough work that people would follow, or would look to me for expertise. It was hard, no one liked me or respected me. So I put my head down and I just started making the work. And once I started making the work that people liked, that’s when the respect came.

Your work is your calling card. Not your titles, not your experience. It’s the work you’ve made.

Any innovative audio campaigns that come to mind?

“Bud Lite Presents: Real American Genius.” Funniest radio campaign you’ll ever hear. I think it was BB Chicago who did it. You heard it, and then you couldn’t wait for it to happen again. The audio, the delivery, the writing on it was so sharp. That’s an audio campaign I’ll never forget.

I also feel like Spotify falls into this category, it’s one of these products that have changed people’s lives. I was thinking recently about cassettes, and CD’s, and having to wait on the radio to play the song you liked so you could record it, and you would pray the DJ didn’t talk over it. Now you can stream something in a second.

What do you hope listeners will take away from Screaming Creativity?

I care about exposing more people to the vast array of creatives in the advertising industry. There’s so many young people who are so interesting, so many stories of CCO’s that you wouldn’t know.

I think it’s going to be interesting to hear people talk about creativity as it applies to their lives, and then as it applies to business and marketing. And I think people want to hear the stories behind Fearless Girl, and some of the things Cadbury’s done in India, helping small businesses through AI.

I want people to see the value in creativity. That the future is creativity. I continue to think it’s going to be the world’s most valuable asset. It should be something we all use to solve big problems and take advantage of big opportunities.

Stream Screaming Creativity, available on Spotify, now.

Scores, Songs, and Supper Served at Our Spotify Supper in London

September 18, 2023

Good food, good conversation, and amazing music. Is there anything better?

That’s what was served up last week in London at our annual Spotify Supper, which included a live performance by Olivia Dean, our EQUAL UK & Ireland ambassador and recent Mercury Prize nominee.

Spotify Supper began in 2016 as a way to bring together executives with advertising and publishing partners for an evening to remember. The dinners have become a much-anticipated staple of our brand, and the latest, held in London, was no exception. Guests were treated to a multisensory experience with “Blend”-inspired cocktails and enjoyed desserts from the Soft Serve Society that took a cue from our Sonic Science research.

Trevor Noah on Podcasting, Spotify’s Global Platform, and Telling Your Own Story

June 20, 2023

Earlier today while in conversation with Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek, comedian, author, and former Daily Show host Trevor Noah revealed that he’ll be moving into the world of podcasting with a new Spotify Original podcast, launching later this year.

“My passion and my joy has always been connecting people and connecting ideas,” Trevor explained to Daniel. “I think we live in a world where as we become more connected, ironically, we become a little disconnected. And so, what I’ve always liked to do is try to connect and draw those threads between ideas, between people. That’s what I’ll continue to do with the podcast.”

From the stage at Spotify Beach at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, he went on to explain that his new podcast won’t focus specifically on any one type of person—or on breaking news. “I’m going to be finding a story, person, and world, and then trying to thread those things together,” he said. “Not in a way that’s reactive, not in a way that’s specifically tied to what people think of as news, but rather cultural moments, ideas, that give us a better understanding of the world we live in. Some of them might be funny; some of them might be deep; some of them might be intense stories. But they’ll all be stories that we want to talk about and ideas that we want to share.”

In addition to the announcement, Trevor and Daniel discussed navigating different mediums to forge a deeper connection with audiences, and how creators can effectively leverage new technologies in an ever-evolving media landscape. Read on for highlights from their conversation.

Daniel: What is it about the format of podcasting that really intrigues you?

Trevor: Every format, if you’re a storyteller, presents you with an opportunity to tell a story differently. So, television obviously occupies certain senses: You watch it and listen. When you’re on stage, it’s a live experience. And so, everything that is communicated is happening instantly, and then it’s gone.

What happens with the podcast, that I love, is it’s akin to radio, which I did many, many years ago in South Africa. And it’s intimate. It is everywhere. And it connects you in a way that not many mediums can. I don’t know about you, but I listen to podcasts in some of my most private settings—when I’m driving, commuting, taking a walk—and it feels like it’s just for you. It becomes your own journey, at your own time, in your own way. It doesn’t have the “you missed it” feeling that some other media has, and it also doesn’t have the en mass feeling either.

Daniel: How do you think this format will be different than something like The Daily Show?

Trevor: The Daily Show was fast, reactive, fun. It’s happening and you’re responding. I think what I’m aiming to do with this podcast is enjoy taking a little more time processing, synthesizing—you know, finding the ties between and not focusing on one particular area. It’s a lot broader. I mean, you know, your platform: 500 million people all over the globe—that gives you an opportunity to expand the purview of what you’re talking about.

Daniel: You have a lot of ideas both on that and around perhaps how brands can interact with you on the show. Care to share with the audience a little bit of those thoughts?

Trevor: I think podcasting presents a unique opportunity to brands—one that hasn’t been fully realized. I find there’s always a clash in that a brand is trying to achieve its objectives by trying to get to consumers, trying to get its message out, and then the show or the product or the artist are also trying to do their thing. And then you find there’s a clash of creative; there’s a clash of ideas; there’s a clash of authenticity. And what I’ve always struggled to understand is why that connection isn’t more organic. I think everyone can connect to a brand that they like, that they enjoy, that they want to be a part of. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think finding that connection is key.

And so, I’ve always wondered why in podcasts, for instance, instead of brands trying to be associated with the entire podcast, why don’t they focus on sections in a podcast? Why don’t they look at moments and say, “Hey, this is what I want to be a part of—so I don’t have to cosign everything else that happens on this podcast. I just want to have fun in the section. This tech section or politics section or pop culture section is what our brand stands for.” And so, I think there’s a segmentation that can occur that can provide a brand and creative with more opportunities for flexibility and authenticity.

Daniel: What does being “global” mean to you? What strategies have you pursued in order to bring a global lens to your work?

Trevor: I’m very intentional in trying to create something as many people as possible can enjoy. I hope that you will share my sense of humor. I hope that I can interest you with what I find interesting, and I hope that I can learn from you as well. I learn from my audiences, which I think is a wonderful space to exist as a creator. I don’t claim to be the know-it-all who discovers everything. I’m lucky enough to be able to listen to my fans because we have an age of technology where we can do that. So that’s something that definitely was intentional.

And then, on the other hand, I’ve always loved that I come from a very mixed and international family. You know, my dad is Swiss and my mother is Xhosa, from South Africa. So I always knew that the world existed as more than one group of people. We’ve always been connected across the globe. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of any world or any story as being isolated to the place that it happens in.

Daniel: What podcasts are you listening to and loving?

Trevor: Alex Cooper’s podcast, Call Her Daddy, is amazing. She’s phenomenal in how she’s grown and expanded. She’s another example of someone who had one niche, and she’s grown and shown the multifaceted woman that she is, like all women. Podcasts afford everybody the opportunity to share something.

Daniel: What advice would you give someone who is just starting out on social media?

Trevor: Social media has been amazing in connecting people. But what it has been terrible at is providing the context for that connection. And without context, every interaction can go the wrong way. There was a time when social media was you speaking to people whom you knew or were connected to. And so the context was maintained. Everyone understood every joke or every point of view you had because of how insular it started. Now you don’t know—your message, your tweet, your post, your whatever can go to people hundreds of thousands of miles across the globe who don’t get the full context. Context defines everything.

My job is to try and provide you the most context possible. That’s all I’m trying to do—give you the most. But there will never be all the context unless I’m speaking specifically to every single person individually. And so, as a society, I think that’s what we need to work on.

Catch all the conversations happening on the ground at Cannes on Newsroom.Spotify.com/SpotifyBeach2023 and listen to Daniel and Trevor’s full conversation on Spotify.

The Ringer Founder Bill Simmons Reveals the Secret Behind the Successful Brand Partnerships of ‘The Rewatchables’

June 16, 2023

Bill Simmons is a man who wears many hats at Spotify. In addition to being the founder and Managing Director of The Ringer—which includes a website and podcast network dedicated to sports and pop culture—he’s also Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify, where he’s leveraging his experience at The Ringer building a high-revenue business through innovation and strong partnerships and applying it across the rest of the company. On top of that, Bill also hosts multiple podcasts, including The Rewatchables.

Featuring a rotating cast of writers and editors each week, the show explores classic films that people will never forget—mostly because they can’t seem to stop watching them. As one of The Ringer’s most popular podcasts, The Rewatchables is a shining example of the podcast network’s creative use of integrated brand partnerships.

Bill Simmons

This month, The Rewatchables is partnering with Disney to help promote the new film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. In addition to giving the movie prime placement through custom cover art and the show’s pre-roll ad, as part of this month’s programming, The Ringer is also dropping a special Indiana Jones episode, which will feature branded segments promoting the new movie.

Beyond working with The Ringer, Disney+ recently launched a new campaign with Spotify that drives awareness of Disney’s audio content in a delightful and immersive Spotify experience. Listeners across Germany, the U.K., Ireland, Italy, and Spain can now explore personalized in-app recommendations—as well as new genres and titles from the Disney+ soundtrack catalog—based on their listening habits. Plus, Spotify Free listeners receive audio, display, and video ads with a call to action to visit a branded in-app experience. Between these two brands, the connection runs deep.

For the Record sat down with Bill to dig deeper into the relationship between content and advertising, what makes a good advertising partnership, and how The Ringer makes these sponsorships sing.

We’ve heard you’re a big fan of the Indiana Jones franchise and are revisiting The Last Crusade in an upcoming Rewatchables episode. What excites you most about revisiting the franchise?

Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first great modern action movie I ever saw. It changed everything. I even remember where I saw it—the Cleveland Circle theater in Brookline, MA!

We waited and waited to do it on The Rewatchables for years because it’s one of the 10 most important movies of my lifetime. Indiana Jones is one of the best heroes ever, who fights the worst villains possible. And you’re talking about one of the biggest stars ever in Harrison Ford, who was working with two of the biggest behind-the-scenes creators ever in Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, soundtracked by one of the best composers ever in John Williams.

So Indiana Jones lives forever after that. If it’s an Indiana Jones movie, I’m going. The difference between him and, say, Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt is that he always feels like a real guy with a little hero in him . . . not a hero pretending to be a real guy.

The Ringer is known for long-term deals with brand partners, like this month’s sponsorship with Disney. How do you approach these? What is the value in more integrated partnerships?

It may sound simple, but the most important thing is understanding what brands want to get out of the partnership. The brands that always succeed with us are the ones that tell us what their priorities are ahead of time.

One of The Ringer’s secret sauces is that we have multiple avenues to raise awareness for something—podcasts, the network itself, the website, our social handles, and our individual talent. But we also have a good creative team and we understand how to make things a little more special and unique.

In 2018, State Farm was blowing out a campaign around the state of the NBA season, so we turned it into a special event. We did a two-day Previewpalooza with a bunch of live video talk content, pre-taped shows, and upward of a dozen podcast episodes. State Farm is still a valuable partner all these years later, and I think that week is a big reason why.

Brands don’t want to just fork over money; they want to feel like you elevated their product and put some thought into what they value.

Are there any films you’re still dying to cover?

We are closing in on 300 episodes—which just seems like a crazy-high number—but I have a surprisingly meaty master list of the best Rewatchable movies we haven’t covered yet, which includes classics like Almost Famous. Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, Road House, Anchorman, and most of the Marvel movies.

There are so many times when I’ll get inspiration for an episode when I’m flipping channels, or I’m on an airplane, or I’m surfing around Netflix. It’s then that I realize, “Wait, I love this movie!” That happened with Casino Royale recently. So, I feel like we can get to 500 episodes pretty easily. From our first episode on the 20th anniversary of the noir film Heat to now, I’m so glad people still like listening to it because we love doing it.

Discover The Ringer’s impactful brand partnerships for yourself by streaming the latest episode of The Rewatchables.

Evolving Brands’ Measurement Experience With All-New Spotify Ad Analytics

June 13, 2023

As digital audio continues to boom, advertisers and publishers need modernized tools to understand the impact of their ad investments. Since 2020, Spotify has led the charge with innovations like Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI), which offers deeper ad insights and reporting than was previously available for podcasts. We continued our investments in this space last year with our acquisition of Podsights as we endeavored to accelerate podcast ads measurement and ultimately, strengthen audio ad measurement across music and podcasts on platform and beyond.

Today, we’re taking the next step in that journey and launching Spotify Ad Analytics (SpAA), a global measurement service for brands and agencies of all sizes. This free tool provides advertisers with more ways to better understand their investments on and off Spotify. For publishers, SpAA unlocks greater opportunities to prove the value of their inventories to direct advertising clients.

To learn more, For the Record spoke with Kelsey Woo, a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Spotify who oversees product marketing efforts across Spotify’s advertising measurement, reporting, and insights tools.

Measurement in digital audio advertising lags behind other digital channels. What are some of the ways we’re addressing this with new tools like Spotify Ad Analytics?

Measurement remains an industry-wide challenge across all of digital audio advertising. In the early days, podcasters began monetizing their content by simply recording their ad reads directly into the audio file for a specific podcast episode—these became known as “baked in” or “burned in” ads.

The global shift in consumption from downloads to streaming has opened the door for advances in more data-driven podcast advertising measurement. When we launched SAI, we introduced impression-level insight to podcast advertising for the very first time. Rather than relying on download data, advertisers now had access to standard digital reporting like impressions, unique reach, and frequency, along with unique audience insights and creative performance metrics powered by Spotify’s first-party data.

Last year, we acquired Podsights to solve this measurement pain point for advertisers, both on Spotify and across the industry. Today, by announcing that Podsights is now Spotify Ad Analytics, we’re taking the next step in that journey.

Why the decision to offer Spotify Ad Analytics free of charge?

It’s no secret that we believe in the power of audio. And as marketers increasingly invest in this powerful medium, we want to support that industry-wide growth by making it easier to measure the impact of the format. That’s why we decided to offer Spotify Ad Analytics as a free service to all customers. We feel it’s not only important to make this type of data and foundational knowledge accessible to businesses of all sizes, but to also provide it with the expertise that comes from being the world’s most popular audio-streaming service.

Spotify Ad Analytics builds on a strong foundation to provide our customers with a one-stop shop for Spotify’s measurement and reporting solutions. It gives advertisers even more tools to better understand the value of their investments across Spotify and beyond—free of charge.

What does this mean for advertisers? What are the implications for publishers?

This new offering means that advertisers can measure more on Spotify. It also means both publishers and advertisers can measure real-time conversion tracking and attribution across an unlimited number of audio and podcast impressions. For customers who were previously working with Podsights, there’s no new installation required—they’ll get access to more tools and features just by logging in.

Why is measurement so important for both of these groups? How will Spotify Ad Analytics help accomplish their goals?

Ultimately, Spotify Ad Analytics will help advertisers understand which media strategies are helping them reach their goals. In turn, this allows publishers to prove the value of podcast advertising and further accelerate the growth of their podcast businesses.

We’ve been testing the expanded capabilities since late last year, most recently partnering with advertisers like Grammarly and Shopify to measure the performance of streaming audio ads. We’ve received great feedback on the ability to streamline reporting surfaces and easily understand the holistic impact of different media types, so we’re really excited.

Spotify advertisers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States can now use Spotify Ad Analytics to lean into the power of streaming to provide even more accurate and actionable insights across Spotify ads. Learn more here.

Spotify’s New Publishing Tool Makes It Easy To Turn Broadcasts Into Podcasts

April 13, 2023

At the end of 2021, Spotify announced the acquisition of Whooshkaa, an Australia-based podcast technology platform that let radio broadcasters turn their existing audio content into on-demand podcast content. Today, we are excited to share that this technology is now available for any publisher with a Megaphone account. Megaphone is our podcasting platform for enterprise publishers and professional podcasters, and it offers a comprehensive set of tools that helps them publish, measure, and monetize their podcast businesses.

This technology, which we are calling broadcast-to-podcast (B2P), gives broadcast publishers—whether they’re already in the podcast game or new to the medium—an easy-to-use tool that allows them to leverage existing content to reach new, younger audiences and extend their revenue potential.

For the Record spoke to Emma Vaughn, Global Head of Advertising Business Development & Partnerships at Spotify, to learn more about this technology and what it means for broadcast creators.

First, can you share how radio listening habits are changing?

Radio listening has been gradually shifting from over-the-air to streaming as consumers increasingly choose to listen through their digital devices. In fact, the time people spent listening to broadcast radio online in the U.S. grew by 50% from 2019 to 2022.

Similar to TV, busy consumers want to listen to their favorite audio content on their own schedule. This partly explains the tremendous growth of the podcast industry—creators, publishers, and platforms are responding to the demand from audiences. At the same time, there are more ways for people to listen thanks to a high adoption of devices like smart speakers, smartwatches, and more.

Does this new B2P tool require extra effort or technical knowledge to use?

No! The ease of use and automation are major benefits to this product. After a simple, one-time setup process in Megaphone, broadcast-to-podcast will automatically create new podcast episodes from previously broadcasted content, making it easier than ever for broadcast publishers to reach new audiences with their content. It’s honestly so cool.

It typically takes publishing teams approximately 30 to 60 minutes to manually convert each individual broadcast episode to a podcast. This includes downloading the episode off the radio platform, removing the ad spots, placing ad markers, and uploading the episode to a podcast platform.

This amount of friction does not work at scale when converting hundreds of episodes per day across a network. B2P helps automate this entire process for publishers.

Spotify Advertising Creates Multisensory Spotify Suppers With Stellar Chefs and Talent From Across the Globe

December 22, 2022

a chef putting the final touches on plates of food and sprinkles seasoning

Music influences every aspect of culture—touching style, cuisine, and much more in between. So when it comes to gatherings hosted by Spotify Advertising, audio is just one standout feature.

Take our Spotify Suppers series. These dining experiences, which began in 2016, bring together executives and brand and advertising partners for a multisensory evening to remember. Complete with the best minds, performances from local artists, and an irresistible menu curated by top chefs, these evenings have become a staple of our brand and a hot invitation to look out for.

Setting the table

Behind each Supper is true intentionality, with our internal team researching the food and culture of the region we’re hosting in. “The nucleus of Spotify Supper is a bringing together of two things all cultures enjoy as a commonality—great music and great food,” says Alice Smith, Senior Manager in Experiential and Content Production. “It’s something our guests can connect with us over as a brand, and with each other.”

Suppers are unique to each market, so Alice’s team has produced everything from intimate sit-down dinners with an acoustic artist set (Tom Walker performing in London with a dinner curated by Mark Hix in Tramshed, for example) to a 700-attendee-strong supper in Las Vegas with pop-up food stations from acclaimed chefs including Kwame Onwuachi, Charlene Badman, and Tim Hollingsworth, and with an epic performance from Ludacris. “It’s very much a literal sliding scale and the vibe can range from an intimate and exclusive experience to a high-profile, high-energy concert,” Alice says.There’s one constant: Attendees understand the connection between the playlist and the palate. Past culinary masters like Top Chef champion Kristin Kish and Junior Bake Off host and pastry chef Ravneet Gill have given For the Record their advice for mixing music with any meal. And as the Suppers have filled the minds and stomachs of our guests, they’ve also become a true staple of our advertising business, celebrating milestones like our growth in Southeast Asia.

Mixing it all together

This fall in London, Alice’s team created “The Sensation of Supper,” a tactile tablescape where guests could touch different ingredients and food items, which turned into instruments for them to play. This ultimately culminated in a Supper soundtrack curated by all the guests. Food service was done by the talented James Cochran, a London-based chef and winner of The Great British Menu, at his 12:51 restaurant in Islington. James, a massive music aficionado, has his own take on the merging of the food and music, which he served up at the Spotify Supper: Serving the Senses, where U.K. pop sensation Self Esteem performed.

“They each have that magical quality—that a particular dish or the first opening beats of a song can immediately evoke a memory,” says James. “Pairing them makes them even more emotion inducing, or helps create long-lasting memories for the future. I always think the best example of this is falling in love—both music and food take on more meaning than they do individually, and the two combined create something truly special.”

When it comes to bringing the event together, Alice notes a few important details. “Our attendee list is key—we curate the experience to ensure it’s exclusive and very much a ‘thank you’ for the continued business of our ads clients, and that it’s an opportunity for anyone attending a Supper to physically interact with and experience our brand.”

And then there’s the music. “From the prep playlist to help us bang out the chopping and the getting ready to service, the vibe needs to be a perfect balance of high energy and rhythm to keep us getting through,” says James. “At service, this is where the playlist comes into its own. Again, high energy with hype, but you gotta keep the levels regularized as you don’t want it to aggravate any stressful situations, and also kill the vibe of people enjoying dinner.”

The icing on top

At our recent Spotify Supper events in Sydney, Australia, Chef Khanh Ong, DJ and owner of The George on Collins, served up Yummy Music and Loud Food to the sounds of Aussie homegrown talent Vera Blue. He then pulled off the feat again in Melbourne with the unparalleled Vance Joy. Music to Khanh is a staple meant for any moment where he’s working with food.

“Music and food go hand in hand,” says Khanh. “I have playlists made for when I’m cooking; I have playlists on Spotify for when I’m entertaining, and playlists made for the restaurant. Vibe and atmosphere can make or break a dinner party. I also like to listen to songs I can dance to or scream to when I’m cooking. It’s fun, energetic, and dynamic—just like my food.”

The energy Khanh and his fellow chefs provide is core to the Spotify Supper experience, which is also an opportunity for the chefs to step out of the kitchen and interact with artists, guests, and Spotifiers. Khanh was even interviewed by Spotify Regional Head of Sales for AUNZ Adrian Bingham at the Sydney event, where he spoke of his love of all things food and music.

“At the heart of Supper is a love of connection; we want to give the opportunity for our ads and sales team and guests to network and have a shared experience—so we create moments and pockets for this to happen,” says Alice.

But Khanh doesn’t limit himself to only one type of audio. He’s also gotten into podcasts and has started his own show focused around food. “My favorite podcasts are usually true crime or pop culture, although I’ve started my own, called the Feast, with Sarah Davidson. Little topics for entree, deep dives for main, and tidbits for dessert.”

Rak Patel, Head of Enterprise Sales, Europe, Shares Why Podsights Marks a New Opportunity for European Advertisers

October 18, 2022

Earlier this year, Spotify Advertising continued our focus on delivering innovation in audio advertising with the acquisition of Podsights, a leading podcast advertising measurement service that helps advertisers better measure and scale their podcast advertising. With Podsights, we’re bringing greater transparency to podcast ads around the world. Advertisers will now be able to apply key analytics and measurement solutions, enabling them to easily track the success of campaigns or specific placements. And since podcasts are growing in popularity and are slated to become a €1.5B ads business in Europe by the end of 2023, we’ve been investing to grow digital audio advertising across the region.

So earlier this month, we launched Podsights for podcast advertisers in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. This means advertisers in these markets can now easily access real-time insights about their podcast investments and understand how podcast ads drive actions that matter to their business campaigns. In the U.K. in particular, we’re testing these tools for ads in our Free music experience with media agency Omnicom Media Group. Over time, we plan to extend these measurement capabilities beyond podcasts to the full scope of the Spotify platform, including audio ads within music, video ads, and display ads.

And no one is more excited for these advancements than our Head of Enterprise Sales in Europe, Rak Patel.

“We’ve been working hard to create major demand outside of the U.S.,” he explained to For the Record. “We’ve done it through investments on the international side, investments on building a team and set of resources to truly capitalize on the opportunity, and investments on the podcast advertising side for international. All of these components are steps to make Spotify even more attractive as we go on our amazing journey.”

Podsights is now available for all podcast advertisers in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. What was the road to getting here like?

About a year or so ago, our advertising business started building out further capabilities in the EMEA region and in particular the major markets—the EU5 (Including U.K.!)—putting investment not only into the team, but into expanding our offerings as well. And that’s a really important milestone for us because it meant that we were starting to maximize our opportunity with advertisers and agencies outside of the U.S. And a big part of being ready to do that was through really maturing our product offering: advertising via podcasts.

Now, clearly, podcasts are a big thing at Spotify, so what’s really important to us is being able to maximize the opportunity of podcasts on our platform for our advertiser partners, whether that’s through the content that we have on the Owned and Exclusive side or through building our ability to have an audience buy on our platform with the Spotify Audience Network. And then what advertisers still need is to be able to measure the effectiveness of the activity on their site.

And that’s where Podsights comes into play. Rolling this out now across the EU5 is another important step for us to be able to go to advertisers with the full suite of capabilities, which means that they’re able to both reach their audience and measure the effectiveness of that activity on our platform.

Is there a market you’re particularly excited to watch on the podcast advertising front?

This is like asking if I have a favorite child. (I do, but I’m not going to share that here.) So what I’ll say is: I’m massively excited about all five. Simply because each market is at a different stage, but we have a readiness to really do more within each of the markets. Now, Germany and the U.K. are more progressive at the moment in terms of the marketplace. And there’s fantastic content that we have there, and opportunities to match. But equally important for us is France, Spain, and Italy too. So I’m excited for all of my country-children.

In the U.K., we’re testing Podsights with music ads for the first time. What does this mean for advertisers?

First off, I’m delighted that we’re starting this test in Europe. Secondly, what’s really important here is being able to offer our measurement tools to our advertisers at scale across our whole portfolio, whether it’s podcasts or music. The music side of our business is something that we’ve been obviously very focused on for many years now. So the opportunity for us to really scale our new tool, Podsights, in a really fast way across advertisers who already know us really well on the music side, I think that’s a great move.

What are some tips for brands who want to get started with audio advertising?

Our efforts here are making the whole landscape of podcast advertising incredibly attractive because we’re enabling an advertiser to reach their audience at scale—while still offering them ways to sponsor individual shows—and then also to be able to do that on a repeatable basis. The key desires for an advertiser are to be able to share their story, to share their product, and to engage with the audience. There’s three things I would say are going to be really important for advertisers who want to do that through audio:

Be brave. The podcast advertising landscape is one that’s going to evolve very quickly over the next several years. Come with us as we learn and go on this journey.
Think about what our platform can offer from a personalization perspective that other brands can’t do—and then think about how you can really engage with your fans in that way. With unique tech like Streaming Ad Insertion, you know your ad is being heard by the audience you’re aiming to reach. That’s a game changer for podcasts. And not to mention, it’s quite cool.
Think about how you can include podcast ads in your full media plans on a regular basis. Don’t just come try it out and then move on. Make it something that’s evergreen. We see the most impactful, most memorable campaigns from advertisers who continually engage. And this is where Podsights really helps, because it gives those proof points. Don’t stop the conversation.

To learn more about Spotify Advertising, head to Ads.Spotfy.

Spotify Advertising Activates in Southeast Asia for Our First-Ever ‘All Ears on You’ Events in Singapore

October 11, 2022

Yuna wears a red outfit while performing at Spotify Supper Singapore

Spotify’s advertising business has grown tremendously over the past few years—and our geographic footprint has expanded to match. One region of focus is Southeast Asia (SEA), the second-fastest-growing region globally in terms of internet users (source: eMarketer, Southeast Asia Digital Users Forecast 2022). Last week, our advertising leaders joined together in Singapore for a four-day experience to set the stage for new and relationships and grow existing ones with advertisers in Southeast Asia.

“With our strong audio content and ubiquity strategy, Spotify is at the heart of Gen Zs and millennials in this region,” said Sea Yen Ong, Spotify Head of Sales, SEA. “On Spotify, advertisers have the opportunity to connect these uniquely engaged audiences with visual formats in the foreground and audio in the background on one single platform. This is an advantage which many other platforms and publishers are unable to promise or deliver.”

Setting the Table: All Ears on You Supper

To enhance our relationships with this community, we invited more than 40 senior brand and advertising partners to our first Singapore All Ears on You Supper at Riviera Fullerton. The night was filled with strategic conversations from regional decision makers across APAC, a delectable culinary experience, and a special artist performance.

Spotify’s newly appointed Head of Enterprise Sales for JAPAC, Brad Grealy, opened the evening with a welcoming address. Then, Sea Yen held an open conversation with Chef Rémy Carmignani about his culinary inspirations, musical inspirations, and what guests could expect from the menu prior to the five-course meal.

Spotify Introduces Call-to-Action Cards for Podcast Ads

January 6, 2022

What’s the next great frontier in audio? We believe it’s interactivity. Over the last year, Spotify has introduced new tools for creators to interact more directly with their audiences through video podcasts, Q&As, and Polls. We’ve also enabled experiences like Blend, which allows listeners to merge their musical tastes with their friends’ in one shared playlist. Finally, we introduced our voice-controlled in-app experience, “Hey Spotify.”

Now we’re bringing interactivity to the audio ad experience.

Whether you’re blasting your personalized On Repeat playlist during your morning run, catching up on the week’s pop culture news with Higher Learning while you make dinner, or listening to Monica and Dax unpack the struggles of being human while stuck in traffic on Armchair Expert—music and talk are your constant companions.

But what happens when you hear an ad letting you know about Ulta’s “Hello Holidays” sale or an offer from Athletic Greens giving you 25% off when you sign up for a monthly subscription? You’re often forced to remember a promo code or URL, or make a mental note to look up the offer when you return to your phone or laptop. This process is far from seamless. That’s why we’re excited to announce a new ad experience launching across podcasts called call-to-action (CTA) cards.

CTA cards will appear in the app as soon as a podcast ad begins playing, and will resurface later on while you’re exploring the Spotify app—making it easier to check out the brand, product, or service you heard about while listening. CTA cards will make it easier for you to directly discover the products and services you’re interested in without having a hard-to-remember promo code or vanity URL.

With the launch of this new ad experience, we’re making podcast ads interactive for the first time, transforming the format from something that can only be heard, into an experience that you can also see — and, most importantly, click.

With digital audio being such a multitasking-friendly and engaging medium, more people are listening than ever before. In fact, in the U.S., mobile time spent listening to audio content is now outpacing time spent on social media, video, and gaming, according to eMarketer. CTA cards are the latest step in Spotify’s vision for the future of audio as an interactive, multi-way experience.

CTA cards will be available across select Spotify Original & Exclusive podcasts in the U.S. beginning today. Advertisers can be especially excited—our tests have shown twice as many site visits with these new clickable ads compared to non-clickable podcast ads. Learn more at Ads.Spotify.com.