Podcasts immerse listeners in conversations and stories they deeply care about. As a result, podcast advertising is a powerful way to reach people who are highly attentive and primed to drive upper-funnel campaign results like awareness and recall. However, much of podcast listening happens while people are multitasking (like walking the dog or driving to the store), so it’s challenging for even the most leaned-in listener to engage with a compelling podcast ad in the moment.

That’s why we’re excited to announce the expansion of a new podcast ad format designed to turn awareness into action: call-to-action cards, now available across Spotify Original & Exclusive podcasts in Australia.

Over the last year, Spotify has introduced new tools for podcast creators to interact more directly with their audiences, new features for listeners to interact with one another, and now CTA cards to bring interactivity to podcast ads on Spotify.

Call-to-action cards (CTA cards) are clickable, interactive companion display units for digital audio ads. They combine visuals and customisable text to deliver a clear, simple message, along with a first for podcast ads: a clickable call-to-action.

CTA cards are powered by our Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) ad technology, and are designed to be seen while your ad is playing and after your ad has been heard. They give advertisers even more visual real estate across the Spotify app, and only appear for listeners who already heard your podcast ad. Along with a display image to show off your product, service, or brand, CTA cards allow users to tap a link and visit your brand’s site, download your app, and more. And with CTA cards and SAI, advertisers can see impression-level campaign performance and insights, and tap into Spotify's suite of measurement solutions to understand the impact of their campaign.

CTA cards launched earlier this year in the US. Since then, we’ve found that podcast listeners are ready and willing to re-engage directly with ads they hear during a show—from clicking to learn more, shopping, downloading apps, and more. Early results in the U.S. have indicated that as we’ve increased the number of places where listeners can find CTA cards in the Spotify app, we’ve seen outcomes like website visits increase accordingly—delivering increased ROI for our advertisers.

Making it easier to remember and take action

Because podcast listening is often a screenless experience, we designed CTA cards to help listeners reconnect with the ads they’ve previously heard. Once a listener hears your podcast ad, corresponding CTA cards will appear in relevant places to where the ad was originally heard–like the podcast episode page or show page. This means your message can be delivered with increased frequency up to seven days after hearing the initial podcast ad (unless your campaign ends earlier).

Maximising the power of audio

Audio provides an effective way to tell your company’s story and drives listeners toward the path to conversion, with CTA cards accompanying listeners on that path. Don’t get us wrong: promo codes and vanity URLs paved the way for podcast advertising success. But with CTA cards, advertisers now have a new visual canvas to tell their story and an even more direct way to attribute campaign success. We’ve partnered with advertisers like Sportsbet and McDonald's to test this new feature.

CTA cards are now available to advertisers in Australia across Spotify Original & Exclusive podcasts. Reach out to your Spotify sales rep to learn more.