Tag: Ads

Spotify’s Tunetorials Brings Advertising Strategies to Life With Beats You Won’t Forget

October 7, 2025

Spotify Advertising is launching a new campaign for marketers: Tunetorials, where catchy beats meet proven strategies. It’s the easiest (and most fun) way to learn how Spotify helps advertisers of all sizes reach the right audience, at the right moment, with the right message.

With original songs and music videos, Tunetorials gives advertisers a rundown of Spotify’s full range of ad tools and proof points, plus tips on how to make the most of them. From building a multi‑format strategy to tapping into Spotify’s unique audience insights, Tunetorials turns ad education into bops you’ll want to play on repeat.

Spotify has been hard at work this year making it easier than ever for advertisers to buy, create, and measure campaigns on our platform. During our first Spotify Advance event in April, we introduced a suite of new ad solutions to help brands meet their goals. Tunetorials keeps that momentum going, building on the success of previous campaigns like Spreadbeats and Song for Every CMO—both recognized globally for creativity and effectiveness.

“We created Tunetorials based on a simple idea: What if learning about Spotify Advertising could be as fun as using Spotify?” said Bridget Evans, Global Head of Business Marketing, Spotify. “Tunetorials are our way of blending education with entertainment so it doesn’t feel like a chore. We know our audience loves creativity and music, so we met them there, transforming how-to lessons into original songs and music videos. It’s a surprise-and-delight campaign that showcases the full power of our platform, while also inspiring brands and agencies to see Spotify’s suite of ad solutions in a whole new way.”

In true Spotify fashion, we teamed up with six emerging artists across genres to create the Tunetorials album.

“Linking up with Spotify Advertising on Tunetorials was a much-needed creative challenge,” said artist Carter Ace. “Growing up, I was always more of an auditory and visual learner, and I valued programs that could educate while incorporating modern musical elements. The fact that the team trusted me to be on the project that tackles everything I just mentioned is already a blessing—not to mention that we made a banging song that’ll still fit on your playlist.”

Ready to level up your ad game? Hit play on the tracks below to get started:

“How to Run a Multi-Format Campaign” featuring Carter Ace

Carter Ace’s laid‑back, genre‑blending style is the perfect backdrop for mixing formats. Pair audio, video, and display ads to see sales lift soar—up to 90% higher than audio alone.

“How to Measure Campaign Performance” featuring Alex Lilly

Alex Lilly’s sharp, indie‑pop edge turns measurement solutions into music, showing how brand lift, web traffic, conversions, and even offline sales prove your ads are hitting the mark.

“How to Drive ROI With Your Campaign Setup” featuring BIG SIS

BIG SIS brings bold, high‑energy beats to the art of smart spending, showing how targeted media buys on Spotify can boost your performance and ROI.

“How to Create Ads for Spotify” featuring The Shivers

The Shivers’ punchy vibe makes ad creation feel effortless, from using free tools like Spotify’s Gen AI Ads to repurposing creative assets you already have.

“How to Reach Your Target Audience” featuring Parbleu

Parbleu’s smooth, funky groove sets the tone for perfect timing. This track spotlights how, with more than 696 million users globally, Spotify’s first‑party data helps you reach the right people exactly when they’re ready to listen.

“How to Track Your Ad’s Success” featuring House of EL

With House of EL’s soulful sound, this track dives into the Spotify Pixel: your tool for retargeting, optimizing, and tracking exactly how listeners respond to your ads.

Bonus content

In addition to dropping the digital album, we’re putting Spotify directly into select media buyers’ hands with a limited-edition Tunetorials vinyl. Each record features all the Tunetorials tracks, plus a bonus insert with even more details and proof points for each tutorial.

But that’s not all. We’re also releasing three music videos to accompany the album, making the Tunetorials experience bigger, bolder, and even more fun.

Watch and jam along to the Tunetorials music videos below:

From early concepting to big brand moments, Spotify’s Tunetorials makes it easy to fine-tune your strategies and amplify your impact, one beat at a time.

Spotify Unveils New Advertising Partnerships and Product Updates

October 1, 2025

Earlier this year during Spotify Advance, we announced a series of updates to make advertising on Spotify more flexible and automated. Today, we’re building on that momentum with a powerful suite of new partnerships and product features designed to make it even easier for advertisers to buy, create, and measure success on Spotify.

New partnerships and expanded reach

We’re continuing to invest in automating our ad platform with enhancements across our automated buying channels: the Spotify Ad Exchange and Spotify Ads Manager.

Spotify Ad Exchange

For the first time, advertisers using Amazon DSP can now access Spotify’s audio and video inventory. This partnership brings together Amazon’s trillions of shopping, streaming, and browsing signals and Spotify’s global audience of 696 million monthly users, enabling advertisers to reach engaged audiences at scale while providing access to full-funnel measurement and attribution.

“By combining Amazon’s diverse audiences and first-party signals with Spotify’s high-quality content and engaged fan base, we’re creating new and meaningful ways for advertisers to amplify their omnichannel advertising strategies by leveraging a deeper level of insights only available through Amazon DSP,” said Meredith Goldman, Director, Amazon DSP at Amazon Ads. “Amazon DSP now has unprecedented scale across Amazon owned and operated and open internet audio supply, allowing us to set new standards for holistic campaign planning and activation—all in one place.”

But that’s not all. We’re also expanding our programmatic ecosystem with these key updates:

- ID5 partnership: Advertisers can now reach music and podcast fans across Europe more effectively, thanks to enhanced addressability for programmatic campaigns via ID5’s digital identity solution.
- Yahoo DSP integration: Advertisers can now buy Spotify inventory through Yahoo DSP via a new direct integration. With the Spotify Ad Exchange, advertisers have seen conversion rates improve by nearly 70% and cost per action drop by almost 90%, according to Yahoo data from July to September 2025. This direct integration also helps advertisers better target and measure audiences across Spotify using Yahoo ConnectID.
- For publishers: Starting in 2026, Megaphone-hosted podcast publishers will be able to book private marketplace deals via the Spotify Ad Exchange. This will empower publishers to set up non-guaranteed deals with one or many advertisers, expanding their revenue opportunities.

Spotify Ads Manager

We’re also continuing to innovate within Spotify Ads Manager with new tools and partnerships to help advertisers of all sizes create, optimize, and measure their campaigns:

- Smartly partnership: We’re partnering with Smartly to expand access to our inventory to more advertisers. With Spotify Ads Manager integrating into Smartly, advertisers will gain new ways to reach audiences through audio, display, and video, supported by Smartly’s AI-powered creative, automation, and measurement.
- Split Testing tool: Advertisers will soon be able to run controlled experiments to see which creative elements resonate most with audiences, optimizing for metrics like completion rate, click-through rate, cost per click, and cost per conversion.

Growing momentum and proven results

Spotify’s automated buying channels for advertisers are seeing rapid adoption and delivering real results. Since we launched the Spotify Ad Exchange in April, the number of advertisers using it has increased by 142%. On Spotify Ads Manager, campaigns using the Web Traffic objective have seen page view rates 103% higher compared to brand awareness campaigns, and campaigns using the App Install objective have achieved install rates 4.3 times higher than non-optimized campaigns.

What this means for brands

Spotify’s scale and engagement remain unmatched. According to a 2024 global GWI study, 90% of users make Spotify part of their daily routines, with people spending more than two hours a day on the platform. And according to another recent GWI survey, 65% of users agree that time spent on Spotify feels more positive than time spent on social media. In a world of doom scrolling and distraction traps, Spotify offers something different, with users coming to the platform for a sense of connection and genuine value.

With these latest updates, we’re making it easier than ever for advertisers of all sizes to reach leaned-in audiences in a positive environment, whether you’re running a global campaign or just getting started.

“We’ve been hard at work enhancing our automated buying channels to make it easy for advertisers to buy, create, and measure on Spotify,” said Brian Berner, Spotify’s Global Head of Advertising Sales and Partnerships. “Now we’re bringing even more flexibility and control for advertisers, enabling them to reach our highly engaged global audience and drive impact with their campaigns.”

Ready to amplify your brand’s performance? Learn more about how brands can connect with listeners through Spotify Advertising.

The Three Key Takeaways for Advertisers From Our Spotify Advance Event

April 2, 2025

The next stage of Spotify Advertising has arrived. Today, during our Spotify Advance event in New York City, we unveiled a host of updates that make it easier for advertisers to buy, create, measure, and get clear results on Spotify’s ad platform. These efforts reflect a big leap forward in automated buying and creative innovation for Spotify and the broader digital audio industry, most notably, the new Spotify Ad Exchange.

We know that one of the reasons advertisers turn to us is because we’re constantly innovating at the intersection of culture, tech, and creativity.

So we now have new ways to help advertisers jump into Spotify’s creative playground with ease, including our new Spotify Gen AI Ads.

1. We’re modernizing our ad platform to give advertisers the flexibility to buy Spotify in the way that works best for them: the new Spotify Ad Exchange and our self-serve Spotify Ads Manager.

Spotify Ad Exchange (SAX) is our new programmatic offering. For the first time, advertisers can now access Spotify’s engaged, logged-in users via real-time auction with full addressability and measurement capabilities in whatever way works best for them. Beginning today, in addition to The Trade Desk, the Spotify Ad Exchange is now available via Google’s Display & Video 360 and Magnite, with Yahoo DSP, Adform, and many more to come soon. These partners now have access to our suite of audio, video, and display formats across music, with podcasts coming soon. SAX is now available to advertisers across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico.

Spotify Ads Manager: We’re continuing to innovate our self-serve platform with more advanced targeting capabilities, new 1P and 3P measurement solutions, and new outcome-based objectives to help advertisers of all sizes create, optimize, and measure their Spotify campaigns, including Spotify Pixel, Custom Audiences, key third-party partnerships, and a new App Installs objective.

2. We’re making it easier than ever for advertisers to create with Spotify.

Spotify Gen AI Ads: We’re bringing our decades-long AI expertise and innovative approach to our advertising partners to enable them to create scripts and voiceovers at no additional cost, making it easier than ever to create high-quality, scalable audio ads. Gen AI Ads are available to advertisers in the U.S. and Canada in Spotify Ads Manager.

Spotify Creative Lab: Our dedicated team of creative minds work collaboratively with brands and agencies to inspire and scale creativity and to build unique and effective campaigns made just for the Spotify platform. Our Creative Lab team has helped brands create first-of-its-kind Spotify experiences, like Bestie Mode with Coca-Cola and Oreo; American Express and Resy’s Music Taste campaign; and “100 Years of Chevrolet” in Brazil.
Spotify AUX: Our in-house consultancy brings together our unrivaled know-how in music, podcasts, culture, experiential, and content production to bridge the worlds of brands, artists, creators, and fandom. Our mission is to provide innovative solutions that elevate brands through the power of music and culture. Today, we’re welcoming two partners to the AUX family: Visa and Kona Big Wave. We’re also continuing our multiyear partnership with Coca-Cola.

3. We’re helping advertisers reach their goals on Spotify with new measurement tools built just for Spotify and new 3P partnerships: We’ve rebuilt our first-party measurement stack and expanded tools with key third-party partnerships, enabling advertisers to evaluate performance across the funnel.

New Lower-Funnel Objectives: Starting today, our new App Installs Objective enables advertisers to show ads to people likely to click and download their app, while our new Website Traffic Objective enables advertisers to optimize their campaign toward people most likely to view their website.

Measurement Solutions: We’ve updated Spotify Brand Lift, our 1P measurement tool that helps advertisers understand how their Spotify campaigns impact their brand metrics. We’re also bringing Spotify Brand Lift and Spotify Pixel to Ads Manager. Lastly, we’re investing in key 3P partnerships to offer greater measurement capabilities and ensure that Spotify can be a trusted partner in this ever-evolving landscape.

Check out more coverage from Spotify Advance and visit Spotify Advertising for more about our advertising program and tools.

Spotify Tunes Up Platform To Make It Easy for Advertisers To Buy, Create, and Measure

April 2, 2025

Spotify Advertising hit a new high note today as we unveiled how we’re making it easier than ever for advertisers to buy, create, and measure on and for our platform.

We’ve been hard at work investing in our ad platform, modernizing our ad tech, and solidifying industry partnerships to become a platform that delivers results for advertisers of all sizes. During our first Spotify Advance event in New York City, we showcased a suite of new ad solutions that will unlock the full power of Spotify.

This next stage of Spotify Advertising was ushered in with news of the launch of Spotify Ad Exchange. We call it SAX for short. For the first time, advertisers will be able to access Spotify’s engaged and logged-in users via real-time auction, with full addressability and measurement capabilities. Today, advertisers can plug into SAX via The Trade Desk and Google Display & Video 360, with Magnite, Adform, and Yahoo DSP coming soon.

We also shared how we’re making our self-serve Spotify Ads Manager work harder for advertisers with new tools and solutions to help them meet their objectives, including enhanced targeting and measurement capabilities.

To complement our automated buying solutions, we introduced new ways for advertisers to create with Spotify: our in-house agencies, Creative Lab and AUX, and our new Spotify Gen AI Ads.

We’re also making our platform more addressable to help advertisers better measure the impact of their Spotify campaigns with our Spotify Brand Lift solution and new App Installs objective, alongside industry-leading tools from our third-party partners.

For the Record sat down with Spotify’s Global Head of Advertising Lee Brown to unpack these developments and hear more about how Spotify is revolutionizing advertising for brands of all sizes.

This is such an exciting new chapter for Spotify! Why is it so critical to assemble these global CMOs, agencies, creators, and key influencers now, and share these updates?

Thanks! I’m really proud of our team for getting us to this point—we’re happy to finally be able to share what we’ve been busy working on. Spotify Advance marks a pivotal moment for our company as our advertising business enters a new stage. We’ve been investing to become a platform that can deliver results for advertisers, whatever their goal, whatever their size.

Whether you’re a CMO, a media agency buyer, a podcast publisher, a seasoned creative director, or a creator looking to grow your brand, we’ve got you covered. We invited this cross-sectional group to learn about our new solutions firsthand and hear from our team directly on why Spotify should play a bigger role in their marketing strategy.

What are the biggest benefits that our ad products offer businesses?

Spotify Free users tune in to Spotify for two hours each day, making it an essential daily companion that gives brands the unique opportunity to connect with super-engaged fans in our positive environment. People feel good when they’re on Spotify. This is good for advertisers looking to build new connections or go deeper with their audience. In fact, Spotify’s 2024 Culture Next report found that 71% of Gen Zs see Spotify as the ultimate antidote to doomscrolling.

Now it’s easier than ever to reach these users thanks to solutions like the Spotify Ad Exchange and Spotify Ads Manager, and to create audio ads made for Spotify with our intuitive Gen AI Ads. Advertisers in the U.S. and Canada can now leverage generative AI in Spotify Ads Manager to produce scripts and voiceovers at no additional cost, making it easy to create high-quality, scalable audio ads. We’ll be launching Gen AI Ads in the U.K. next.

And because we all know that if you can’t measure it, it really doesn’t matter, we’re also bringing more measurement solutions to our platform. We want to ensure advertisers can more easily understand the impact of their campaigns with tools like an enhanced Spotify Pixel and new partnerships with leading third-party players, including DoubleVerify, IAS, AppsFlyer, and Kochava.

How is Spotify Advertising unlocking innovative ways for brands to connect with artists, creators, and fans?

We’re on the cutting edge of culture and creativity—and we know that’s one of the reasons advertisers turn to Spotify. So just as we’re making it easier to buy on Spotify, we’re making it even easier for advertisers to create for Spotify and in collaboration with us. That’s where our in-house agencies, Creative Lab and AUX, come in.

Creative Lab is our dedicated team of creative minds that works collaboratively with brands and agencies to inspire and scale creativity to build unique and effective campaigns made just for the Spotify platform.

Our in-house music consulting agency AUX leverages our expertise in music, culture, creators, and fandom to elevate brands as only Spotify can. Today, we welcomed Visa and Kona Big Wave to the AUX family and announced the expansion of our partnership with Coke Studio.

How should advertisers approach younger audiences like Gen Z, assuming their habits are different from older generations?

More than 251 million Gen Zers turn to Spotify as their daily companion, so we know this audience well. We’ve built an intimate, engaging, and uplifting space for them, and they also use us to soundtrack moments throughout their day—not just when they’re sitting in front of a screen. For brands, that’s a really exciting opportunity to engage this young audience at key moments throughout their day. Now it’s easier than ever to do that on Spotify.

Check out more coverage from Spotify Advance and visit Spotify Advertising for more about our advertising program and tools.

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.

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