Spotify Advertising: Is It Right for You?

Table of Content

• What is Spotify advertising?
• Types of Spotify Ads
• The Advantages of Spotify Advertising
• The Disadvantages of Spotify Advertising
• Frequently Asked Questions
• So, Is Spotify Advertising Right for You?

Spotify is the most popular online music streaming platform, with over 422 million users. The app offers two subscription plans: Premium (for an ad-free experience) and Free (with ads between music). The good news for businesses is that most Spotify listeners are on the free version. So, can Spotify offer a good advertising opportunity for your business?

Of course, there are many things to look at before investing your money. Facebook and Instagram have a huge user base (of more than three billion!), so why target audiences on Spotify?

Before you make that big decision, let’s see how the advantages of Spotify advertising stack up against the disadvantages for your business.

What is Spotify Advertising?

When users tune in to listen to different songs, podcasts, and albums on Spotify, short audio ads play between the selections. Around one to four minutes of ads are played for every hour of audio content streamed. These ads are always audio, so you don’t have to worry about different ad formats as you do in Facebook Ads or Google Ads.

The ads can be up to 30 seconds long, and the voice script can include any promotional approach, along with a piece of good background music to keep users engaged. As the Spotify ad platform is self-serving and easy to manage, marketers can seamlessly create and launch campaigns in no time.

Let’s now review the types of Spotify ads and the advantages of advertising on Spotify.

Types of Spotify Ads

In general, there are 3different types of Spotify ads:

1. Audio Ads – Audio ads are the most common. These ads play periodically between selections and can’t be skipped.
2. Video Ads – Video ads will run when users actively browse through a catalog or album for music and podcasts. These ads have a call-to-action button to drive spontaneous engagement.
3. Display Ads – Display ads are shown as banners at the bottom of the music player or across the top. Also known as Homepage Takeover, these ads also display on mobile devices when users re-open the app. Display ads will include a combination of text, images, and CTAs.

The Advantages of Spotify Advertising

Spotify advertising brings a bundle of benefits in addition to its ever-growing user base. Let’s check out other advantages:

1 – No Skip Options

As mentioned, Free users on Spotify cannot skip or fast-forward through your ads as they can do on YouTube. The ads will run between every few songs, with listeners having no choice but to let them run to get to their next selections. What an opportunity for your business! It’s a great chance to engage listeners and spark an interest in your brand and product line.

2 – Users Listen to Ads While Browsing Phone/Internet

Unlike YouTube, Spotify allows users to stream music in the background. Users can open different apps while listening to music, even while your ad runs. For this reason, many users prefer Spotify over YouTube to listen to music. So, even if users are not scrolling through the Spotify platform, they’ll hear your ads.

3 – Users Spend a Lot of Time on Spotify

On average, users spend two hours daily on Spotify streaming their favorite music, making Spotify one of the most used mobile apps. When users spend this much time on Spotify, you have that much more time to reach your audience.

4 – Competition is Less

Spotify still has untapped potential in the advertising world, offering brands less overall competition. There is the flexibility to be creative and smart with your ad dollars and maximize your conversions. Also, your target audience is likely to be more receptive when you connect with them on their preferred platforms.

5 – Perfect to Boost Brand Awareness

People often remember things they’ve heard more than things they’ve read. Users will have the opportunity to listen to your Spotify ads repeatedly, increasing brand recognition.

6 – Cost-Efficient Advertising

Audio ads are cheaper to create compared to video ads. On top of that, you can reach your audience in their cell even when it’s in their pocket.

And on other PPC platforms like Facebook and Google, users may not actively watch your ad, but it still counts as an impression. But on Spotify, users will listen to your ad all the way through, helping you capture high-quality leads and customers at a budget-friendly price.

The Disadvantages of Spotify Advertising

Now that we’ve listed some advantages of advertising on Spotify, let’s look at a few disadvantages:

1 – Limited Targeting Options

On Spotify, you get a limited set of targeting options. Spotify doesn’t offer the hyperlocal targeting option for geotargeting, a problem for businesses looking to promote offers and discounts in different locations.

2 – Difficult to Target your Audience Based on Music Preferences

It won’t be easy to find your audience on Spotify based on user preferences. Marketers are still perfecting strategies to predict someone’s interest in your brand/products/services based on their music preferences and streaming behavior.

Frequently Asked Questions

So, Is Spotify Advertising Right for You?

On the one hand, Spotify’s large audience base and diverse demographics are big advantages. The competition is less, and when you look at the cost advantage, Spotify ads can prove great for your business growth.

But on the other hand, you might run into some challenges reaching the right audience. Yes, the minimum ad spend is affordable, but can you reach your target audience?

So, bottom line, if you’re confident your ad strategies will give you the reach you need, it is definitely worth giving it a shot.

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