Tag: united kingdom

Advertisers and Creators Come Together at Our First-Ever Spotify Sparks in London

May 2, 2024

With more than 600 million users around the world tuned in to Spotify, there’s no shortage of opportunity for brands and businesses to connect with their fans in creative ways on our platform.

Last year, we launched Spotify Sparks to help educate advertisers on why Spotify is the destination for reaching the most engaged audiences and leveraging culture-shaping content for impactful advertising campaigns. Following two successful summits in Brazil and India, we brought Spotify Sparks to the U.K. for the first-ever London edition. On May 1, Spotify executives, industry leaders, content creators, and advertisers gathered for a series of live discussions, presentations, and interactive sessions that explored the full power of the Spotify ecosystem.

During the event, Grace Kao, Spotify’s Global Head of Advertising Business Marketing, moderated a conversation with Alex Norström, Spotify’s Co-President and Chief Business Officer, about the evolution of Spotify as a platform and the growth of our global advertising business.

We’re sharing highlights from Grace’s conversation with Alex, as well as Grace’s insights about the inaugural event, the latest ad experience innovations, the feel-good power of audio, and more.

Alex, what have been the most memorable moments of growth during your 13-year Spotify tenure?

Alex: For me, it’s been when we’ve had to bet the farm and commit surgery on ourselves a couple of times. Moments when you ask, Are we really going to do that? The first was when the world shifted from desktop to mobile—clearly evident now, not so much at the time. It paid off, we basically got a ton of growth, and in one month we grew more than the 12 months prior. Same with podcasts. We’re now in our second phase of podcasts, but a few years ago we had to start and establish our reach.

Has adding Audiobooks in Premium been another one of those moments?

Alex: I think so. The moment started last year, when we took a hard look at our proposition and saw there was so much consumer surplus. People spend hours and hours on our product. So, it was the right time to raise prices. This was new for us. But at the same time, we’re putting more value back in. An example being audiobooks, but also music videos and AI Playlist. We keep adding features to reinvest back proportionally.

Something that people don’t realize and we don’t talk about much is that our innovation is feature-led. We’ve been innovating in features—AI DJ, Spotify Connect, and daylist are good examples. Instead of leaning back and just letting the AI and the ML take care of how users interact with Spotify, we actively construct and innovate on features. Which I love.

And what advice can you share with these marketers at Spotify Sparks?

Alex: I’ll talk about marketing from our perspective. We saw a few years ago that as the cost of media increases, the price of advertising goes up. So whether you’re a global brand or a start-up, it’s more expensive to market. When things are expensive, they are riskier. So, you naturally become more risk-averse. 

We always try to look at things differently. So we said, If you have millions of users, you can tell compelling stories on the platform. You can talk to the users about their consumption on the platform and what’s relevant. And the hope is they then share with their friends on their networks.

That’s what Wrapped is. When you hit the spot, it’s amazing—it’s marketing and messaging that is very efficient. And we see great growth and retention.

Spotify Brings Entrepreneurs and Trailblazers Together to Talk the Future of Tech in the UK

April 17, 2024

With its particular combination of talent, ambition, culture, and, of course, world-famous music, the U.K. has been an important piece of the Spotify puzzle since we launched in 2008. Today, as one of our biggest research and development hubs, it’s where we experiment with some of our most exciting new launches and products, including audiobooks in Premium, video-based learning courses, and, most recently, AI Playlist.

Spotify’s success in the U.K. is due in large part to the country’s open, connected, and competitive economy. Exceeding £1 trillion, the U.K.’s technology market is the largest in Europe and the third-largest in the world.

But the country is also at a crossroads, with profound technological, political, and economic changes on the horizon. That’s why Spotify decided to gather industry leaders across the tech, media, and policymaking landscape for an action-packed evening at our London office. Together, we celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit at the heart of the U.K. while exploring how the country remains at the forefront of technological advancement and innovation.

On April 16, we assembled entrepreneurs and trailblazers for a series of candid and thought-provoking conversations alongside a group of influencers, commentators, and policymakers. Dustee Jenkins, Chief Public Affairs Officer at Spotify, hosted the evening.