Highlights for advertisers from Spotify’s Q4 2021 earnings
Yesterday, Spotify released our fourth quarter 2021 financial performance. We ended 2021 on a high note, with strong advertising performance driving innovation and business results for our partners. Spotify now has 406 million monthly active users (MAU) globally (up 18% YoY), of which 236 million are ad-supported MAU. As we move into 2022 and beyond, we see a tremendous amount of opportunity and greenfield on the horizon.
Here are the top highlights featuring opportunities for advertisers on Spotify:
1. We’re committed to transparency and platform responsibility.
Earlier this week, we announced the steps we’re taking to continue our commitment to transparency and platform responsibility. Below is a summary and we encourage advertisers to read the full announcement on our newsroom for details:
- Providing increased transparency by publishing our long-standing Platform Rules.
- Adding a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19.
- Testing ways to highlight our Platform Rules in our creator and publisher tools to raise awareness around what’s acceptable and help creators understand their accountability for the content they post on our platform.
2. We continue to drive innovation in podcast advertising.
Advertiser enthusiasm for the podcasts skyrocketed over the last year. At the end of 2021, Spotify had 3.6 million podcasts on the platform, and overall consumption hours reached another all-time high. We opened up Spotify Audience Network to Anchor creators in the U.S., allowing advertisers to connect with even more podcast listeners as they stream some of the fastest-growing and most dynamic podcasts in the world. We also announced our acquisition of Whooshkaa, an Australia-based podcast technology platform. Integrating their innovative broadcast-to-podcast technology means we’ll be able to bring even more content into the Spotify Audience Network, helping advertisers to connect with even more listeners. And at the beginning of this year, we launched call-to-action cards, a new podcast ads feature designed to turn awareness into action.
3. We made it easier for advertisers to reach listeners across the world.
In 2020, we acquired Megaphone, one of the world’s leading podcast publishing and advertising platforms. Last October, we formally launched Megaphone in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. These four markets join the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, expanding access to even more podcast publishers to take advantage of the tool. We also launched our self-serve ad manager, Spotify Ad Studio, in Jamaica, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania.
4. Advertisers leveraged audio to drive significant business growth.
Advertisers of all sizes tapped into audio to create immersive listening experiences and drive impactful business results with Spotify. Pizza Hut ran an audio-first campaign to keep delivery services top of mind for pizza lovers listening on Spotify. International banking and finance brand BNP Paribas promoted its podcast, We Love Cinema!, to film enthusiasts and podcast listeners on Spotify. The company used Ad Studio’s precise targeting tools and free audio creation services to grow the podcast's following, generating 1.3 million impressions and 7,500 conversions to the podcast. While national moving company TWO MEN AND A TRUCK leaned into audience-based podcast buying to help them engage local audiences and find new customers.