Video advertising is a strategic priority for Spotify.
That might sound strange, considering Spotify is an audio streaming service. But video (when it’s delivered to a screen that’s in view, of course) can be additive to the listening experience, says Emma Vaughn, Spotify’s senior director of advertising business development and partnerships, speaking on this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks.
People increasingly watch video content in feed-based environments with the sound off. But anyone scrolling through Spotify most likely has their sound on, which is an opportunity for advertisers.
By the same token, someone going for a run or doing errands while listening to music probably isn’t looking at their screen.
Spotify only shows video ads when it can tell that the listener’s screen is in view, and the company plans to continue investing in technical innovation to find “the right moments” during which to serve video ads to spur engagement, Vaughn says.
But video also helps with discovery.
At its Stream On event in early March, Spotify debuted a new video-centric home feed for its app that, quite like TikTok, allows people to scroll and swipe through autoplay preview clips of music, podcasts and audiobooks.
“We want people to sample more across music and across podcasts,” Vaughn says, “and we want that sampling to be much more accessible for the consumer.”
Also in this episode: The art and science of frequency management, why Spotify isn’t giving up on podcasts, an update on its ad tech acquisitions and an unlikely fact about the growth of vinyl record sales.
