On the heels of our April launch of Spotify Podcast Ads in Australia, we are excited to announce that we are expanding our offering with the launch of the Spotify Audience Network for local advertisers and publishers.

The Spotify Audience Network is an audio-first advertising marketplace that makes it possible for advertisers of all sizes to connect with listeners across a broad range of content on- and off-Spotify, including Spotify Originals & Exclusives and content from third-party Megaphone publishers.

In other words, we’re unlocking audience-based buying for marketers like we’ve never done before. Why does this matter? Advertisers have historically bought podcast ads on a title-by-title basis. And while title-based buying remains an effective way to align with trusted podcasts and hosts, an advertiser’s reach is limited to a specific title. This has made it challenging to target your customers at scale.

With the Spotify Audience Network, advertisers have a broad range of easy-to-use, audience-based targeting tools including demographic targeting, geographic targeting, and even audience segment targeting. Advertisers can reach highly engaged, targeted audiences within podcasts both on- and off-Spotify. Today, the network includes the audiences listening to podcasts from our four studios (Spotify Studios, The Ringer, Gimlet, Parcast), leading third-party podcast publishers like ViacomCBS and the Wall Street Journal, and podcasts by local Australian publishers.

Advertiser reaction has been promising: within three months of launch, nearly 60% of Spotify’s US podcast advertiser base is advertising with the Spotify Audience Network with advertisers like Volkswagen and Saks taking advantage of this new offering.¹

In a recent report, Advertiser Perceptions asked over 200 podcast advertisers², “Which buying method works best for achieving your company’s podcast campaign KPIs?” The top two responses by a wide margin were “by audience segment” and “across a podcast network”. This survey further validates our conviction that audience-based buying is the future of audio advertising. Pieter Manten, Regional Head of Ad Sales (AUNZ) notes, “Spotify continues to innovate and push audio advertising forward - in April we launched Streaming Ad Insertion for podcasts in Australia, a significant advancement in podcast advertising measurement and transparency for brands. With the launch of the Spotify Audience Network, we continue to connect brands with their audience, at scale and with sophisticated targeting. As we expand our slate of local and international podcasts, our brand and agency partners can look forward to more exciting developments in the coming months.”

For marketers, we’ve been able to extend the reach and scale of advertising campaigns. Kimberly Gardiner, SVP of Marketing at Volkswagen, notes, “Podcasts have been on our radar for some time; however, the lack of audience targeting has largely restricted us from investing in the space. We are excited to have recently partnered with Spotify to launch our first podcast advertising campaign ever, leveraging the Spotify Audience Network to drive awareness and consideration for our first electric vehicle, the Volkswagen ID.4.”

It isn't only advertisers that benefit from the Spotify Audience Network; publishers do, too. Megaphone podcast publishers who opt in to the network have seen meaningful improvement in their ability to monetize. Opted-in podcast publishers have seen fill rates increase by over +10%, CPMs increase by over +40%, while the number of unique advertisers in their content is increasing, with some publishers seeing that number double.³

And this is just the beginning. At Spotify, we’re innovating every day to take advantage of the untapped potential ahead of us, exploring how to make podcast advertising easier to buy, evolving the podcast ad experience, and working with podcast publishers and creators to improve their monetisation. Come join us on this journey.

For marketers, reach out to your Spotify sales rep to learn more about how your business or brand can be part of the future of podcast advertising. For publishers, contact your Megaphone account representative or reach out through the Megaphone website to connect with someone who can speak with you directly about how to monetize your content more effectively through the Spotify Audience Network.