Think for a moment about the role that music and podcasts play in your day to day. In the mornings, you may go for a jog, with your favorite workout playlist pumping in your earbuds. Later, you start the commute with a captivating podcast keeping you company. At home in the evening, you whip up dinner, while your cooking mix jams in the background.

But it's not just screenless moments that define your relationship with digital audio and Spotify content. Maybe you also peruse video podcasts on your lunch break—or carefully curate the perfect playlist for your upcoming party on Friday night.

Spotify is a steadfast daily companion for people across a huge range of lifestyles, interests, and geographic regions—whether their eyes are on or off their screens. With 615 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs), including more than 388 ad-supported MAUs, more people than ever are turning to Spotify to be the soundtrack of their daily lives.¹ Video content is on the up and up, too; we've seen a +39% increase in average daily streams of video podcasts.² What's more, our users spend on average over 2.4 hours a day with us.³

All this has got advertisers pricking up their ears (and eyes). They're asking: How do audio ads stack up against traditional radio? How do video ads play their part? And just how effective are these ads, really? Read on, and we'll break it all down for you.

Audio ads vs. radio ads

The "digital" aspect of digital audio gives these ads a level of performance and precision that radio ads simply aren't capable of, including:

• Analytics. AM/FM radio can only provide advertisers with an estimate of its audience. Because listeners log into Spotify, advertisers get a more accurate view of who hears their ads—and when, and where. This means brands get valuable intel into how much impact their audio ad really has, and can optimise campaigns accordingly.

• Targeting. Accurate and comprehensive listener data means advertisers can fine-tune their control of audience targeting to an extent AM/FM radio simply can't offer. With Ads Manager, you can target by personal interests that match your audience profile and feel confident your ads are likely to reach the right people.

• Context. Spotify users consume content throughout their day. And they do so on multiple devices, from phones to TVs and game consoles, and in multiple formats including audio and video. This provides invaluable contextual data, and for advertisers, getting the context right—the right message, the right setting, the right format—is the trifecta.

The end result? Ads on Spotify enable you to connect with your audience in a way radio ads just can't match.

Choose your flavor

When advertising on Spotify, you've got options. Below are a few ways our advertisers get their messages heard and seen.

Audio ads

Spotify audio ads are up to 60 seconds long and play between songs or during podcasts. They're sometimes combined with a companion display ad, which serves as a visual element. Listeners see the display ad, including a call to action (CTA), when they engage with the Spotify app during an ad break.

For podcasts ads, specifically, advertisers running campaigns via Ads Manager can create choose from a range of voiceover artists, while advertisers running Direct campaigns can also tap into host-read ads—allowing them to deliver their message to users directly from well-known, trusted podcasts hosts.

Spotify's Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) technology means your podcast ad appears in episodes of Spotify podcasts and Spotify Exclusives as people stream them. The result? Your ad plays in real-time, rather than as part of a downloaded episode—which users might or might not hear in its entirety. CTA cards can make your podcast ad even more interactive.

Video ads

Spotify Video ads can run independently or complement your audio ads. There are two main types to experiment with:

1. Regular Video ads can help tell your brand's visual story. These are served in Now Playing View with the sound on. App users see Video ads during a listening session and when they're actively browsing through the Spotify catalog to curate playlists or discover music and podcasts—in other words, when their attention is focused on the screen.

2. Opt-In Video ads appear on Spotify's Now Playing View while users are actively listening to music on the app. With these ads, brands' videos begin with the sound off, allowing the music to continue uninterrupted. Users can choose to dismiss the ad, click to unmute and expand it to full-screen mode, or tap the CTA button to visit the advertiser's website right away. If a user takes no action, the ad plays to completion with the sound off.

Video ads can also be combined with audio ads to achieve outstanding results. Spotify’s ad technology is fueled by user context, meaning we optimise for when to serve a video ad and when to serve an audio ad based on how a listener interacts with the app.

In other words, we deliver an audio ad when listeners are streaming and probably not looking at their screens, and video ads when they're focused on their screens. This helps ensure a seamless, non-disruptive advertising experience that respects the user's current mode of interacting with the platform.

Ads on Spotify work. Here's why.

We've already covered that hundreds of millions of people use Spotify—and many spend time with us on a daily basis. But what's really interesting isn't how many people are on Spotify—it's how they're engaging with us when they're working out, studying, commuting, cooking, partying, sharing, curating, discovering, and watching content. Spotify's Streaming Intelligence harnesses the context behind listeners' habits to give you an understanding of your audience—one that traditional demographics can't deliver.

These insights power Spotify's unique contextual audience targeting, letting you create ads that match your listeners' real-life experiences. Imagine, for example, a cookware ad playing while someone listens to a cooking playlist they've curated or discovered on Spotify. Or an ad for a meditation retreat playing during a podcast about mindfulness. On Spotify, your message seamlessly blends into your audience's environment.

The precision-based targeting behind digital advertising makes audio and video ads powerful mediums that advertisers can use to connect with an engaged audience.

Learn more about how to get started with Spotify Ads Manager.