Spotify Podcast Ads now available in Sweden

Podcasts have become a regular and trusted source of news, entertainment, and information for millions of listeners around the world. And user behavior on Spotify globally supports this trend. In fact, 25% of our users now listen to podcasts on our platform,¹ while listenership continues to grow at triple-digit rates year over year.² Here in Sweden, it’s the same story: 1 in 3 people said they listened to podcasts on a weekly basis last year.³ Podcasts are now a global, mainstream medium for a wide-ranging audience of tuned-in listeners.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that Spotify Podcast Ads, powered by Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI), are now available in Sweden. This means advertisers can now reach valuable and engaged audiences across many of Spotify’s Original and Exclusive podcast titles — on both our Premium and Free tiers. Historically, a lack of clear and equivalent measurement has prevented podcast advertising from truly taking off like its digital media counterparts. This is because podcast content is still largely downloaded via RSS feeds — which limits the advertiser’s visibility into whether their ad was actually heard. But the shift in consumption from downloads to streaming has opened the door for advances in data-driven podcast advertising. And as the world's most popular audio streaming subscription service, we’re moving beyond these constraints to reimagine what's possible for this uniquely powerful and intimate medium.

Spotify Podcast Ads offer the intimacy of traditional podcast ads, with the precision and transparency of modern-day digital marketing. Powered by SAI, Spotify Podcast Ads deliver and report on confirmed ad impressions, rather than downloads. This is a major step forward for podcast advertising — providing marketers with key information about who heard their ad and how the creative performed. With this new level of digital insight, advertisers are equipped to make even more data-driven decisions for their podcast campaigns.

“With Spotify Podcast Ads, we are taking podcast advertising to the next level,” said Caroline Måhl, Director of Sales Nordics at Spotify. “We’re offering advertisers unique insights into their audiences as they stream podcasts and creative solutions that can truly capture the consumers' attention.”

Spotify Podcast Ads are available across our most popular Original and Exclusive content in Sweden — including popular titles like Gynning och Berg, Sweet But Psycho, Spotify Dok, and Raseriet. Advertisers can purchase Spotify Podcast Ads on a title-by-title basis — running their creative across preroll or midroll ad placements within the show’s episodes. Select hosts across these shows (as well as a network of professional voice talent) will also team up with advertisers to help bring their podcast creative to life on Spotify.

Erik Nordberg, Marketing Manager at audiobook company BookBeat, explained why these insights will be crucial to the brand’s upcoming campaigns: “Podcasts are a marketing tool that we use widely and frequently here at BookBeat,” he said. “Still, since our decision-making process is deeply rooted in data, the inaccuracy in traditional podcast reporting has been a pain point. That’s why we’re really excited to start using SAI through the Spotify platform.”

This is just the beginning. Stay tuned as we continue to launch in more markets and release exciting, innovative new features in the near future.