Global growth and innovation paves way for podcast advertising success

Engaging with podcast audiences across the globe

Earlier this year, we launched the Spotify Audience Network in France, Spain, and Italy—and this month we’re expanding into five new markets: India, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and Sweden.

Not only will this bring scaled, audience-based podcast buying to advertisers in these markets for the first time, it also presents a unique opportunity for podcast publishers and creators in these markets to effectively monetize their content. From globally recognised publishers such as NPR, to major publishers in our recently launched markets like Chora in Italy, Rádio Novelo in Brazil, Sonoro in Mexico, and TBS Radio in Japan; opting into the Spotify Audience Network gives these creators scaled access to advertisers across the globe.

“NPR’s audience trusts and appreciates the brands that sponsor NPR’s high quality journalism and storytelling. We continually innovate in how brands can connect with NPR’s content and audience in keeping with the voice and tone of NPR. Over the past year, the Spotify Audience Network has been a valuable addition to our sponsorship business, bringing new brands and unique demand that is in keeping with the quality and tone of NPR.”

— Gina Garrubbo, President & CEO, National Public Media

For advertisers and creators, we think this presents a huge opportunity—and the market agrees: In fact, we’ve seen the number of participating advertisers and publishers increase by over 45% and 70%, respectively, over the past 12 months¹.

Expanding contextual targeting features to improve precision and control for brands

With global expansion comes an even sharper focus on the needs of our local markets. That’s why we’ve released contextual targeting features in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, enabling local advertisers to run ads across podcast episodes that cover topics most relevant to their business objectives. Besides this, advertisers can benefit from the broad range of audience-based targeting tools in these markets—including demographic, geographic, and behavioral targeting.

Contextual targeting leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to transcribe every podcast episode in the Spotify Audience Network, and identifies the topics being spoken about—much like a human would—all while reducing the dependency on third-party signals to reach listeners.

Unlike keyword or rule-based technology, our contextual targeting features allow advertisers to precisely target or exclude podcast topics at the episode level, rather than the show level. This tech now supports podcast content in German, French, Italian, and Spanish—meaning advertisers in these markets can be sure their message reaches the right listeners during the right moments.

Focusing our innovation on brand safety

We know brand safety, and more specifically brand suitability, is front-of-mind for most advertisers wherever they are buying their media. So, when it comes to podcasts, we understand that advertisers want control over where their brand’s message is heard, based on their own definition of brand suitability. That’s why we recently released sensitive topic filters on our self-serve ads manager, Ad Studio. Now, advertisers in the U.S. can choose a level of tolerance for sensitive topics—such as Alcohol, Crime & Violence, and Gambling—that fits with their unique set of brand values and message. On top of this, we’re expanding our list of contextual targeting options to enable advertisers to target or exclude certain topics with more precision.

Finally, we recognise that collaborating with trusted third parties is an important marker of trust for our advertising partners. As a part of that initiative, we’re excited to share that in the coming months, our partnership with Integral Ad Science (IAS) will expand to offer additional brand suitability tools, giving advertisers greater confidence and transparency.

Performance is paramount to the Spotify Audience Network’s success

Since launching, the Spotify Audience Network has helped brands across many industries achieve their marketing objectives, whether it’s driving awareness, or increasing sales. Ashley, a home furniture brand, used the Spotify Audience Network to achieve a 131% return on ad spend on online purchases, and a +31% increase in foot traffic to physical stores. Read the full case study.