Highlights from Spotify’s Stream On 2023

This week, Spotify held its second Stream On event live from the Arts District in Los Angeles where we unveiled a reimagined Spotify experience complete with new tools, resources and podcasts—all designed with a goal to develop Spotify to be the Best Home for Creators.

Spotify Founder & CEO Daniel Ek opened the event by saying:

“We're building here at Spotify, the best home for creators where you can establish your career and where the world can be inspired by your creativity, a place where you can thrive and grow really, no matter what stage you're at in your career. And that's been our mission from the start.

When we founded Spotify in 2006, the music industry was in a freefall. And now, more than 15 years later, more and more artists are finding success through streaming. And we know that means more and more artists than ever are entering the interior arena, which of course means more great content and more competition. Because as the opportunity grows, so does the interest.

But we predict that there's still a lot of growth ahead for music because as we continue to provide better tools for artists, labels and their teams, we also expect to unlock even more ways to find success.”

Here are some of the top highlights from Stream On 2023, which offers exciting opportunities for creators, listeners, and brands on Spotify…

1. Spotify is doubling down on discovery.

This new Spotify experience is designed to help creators and artists be discovered by new audiences. New features that will roll out to our 500M+ monthly active users include Smart Shuffle, an exciting way to add new music to an existing playlist and AI DJ, a new personalized AI guide that transforms how listeners hear and discover the music they love.

Spotify is also bringing a new playlist feature to popular playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar, where users can explore each playlist track by track. These all-new platform features provide listeners with a more visual experience that helps add dimension to their favorite creators. Brands can tap into these moments of discovery by sponsoring playlists and surrounding this immersive content.

2. The momentum behind the Spotify Advertising Network is accelerating with new tools, shows, and partnerships, including NPR.

The Spotify Audience Network is Spotify’s audio-first marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers. Since launching The Spotify Audience Network in 2021, advertiser participation has increased by 500% and the number of podcast publishers taking part in the Spotify Audience Network has grown over 700%.¹

At Stream On, Spotify announced that NPR is the latest publisher to join the network, adding further to the growing number of high-profile publishers on the platform. Spotify is also partnering with Patreon, which will enable creators to deliver content for their “patrons” to listen to on Spotify. Plus, Spotify for Podcasters is launching with tools geared towards driving listener interactivity and audience discovery.

3. A brand new Spotify experience designed to drive deeper and long-lasting connections between creator and listeners.

We’ve reimagined the Spotify interface with a completely new and interactive visual interface, designed to drive deeper connections between creators and listeners. In a world where consumers are spending more time with the app in-focus, we can look forward to new potential engagement opportunities for brands in the future.

This is great news for brands as our Sonic Science research revealed that Spotify content and ads don’t only engage our ears—they grab our visual attention too. Our research has also shown that 93% of the brain’s engagement with the content on Spotify is transferred directly into ad engagement.² Brands can reach listeners via a series of multimedia video, audio, and display ad formats as they navigate the new Spotify experience.

4. New and expanded Spotify Original & Exclusive podcasts create more opportunities for brands to reach listeners.

As we build the world’s #1 audio network, our library of exclusive content continues to grow. This includes a new podcast series with Warner Bros and DC, The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark—hosted by comic book writer David S. Goyer—and Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh, which will return for season two featuring an exclusive video podcast edition of the show. With this ever-expanding selection of Spotify O&E podcasts, brands have the opportunity to turn listeners into customers with podcast ads.

Plug into the podcast below to hear about all the new features and key updates to Spotify in greater detail.

Interested in reaching immersed Spotify listeners? Connect with a Spotify rep, or get started right away with Spotify Ad Studio, our self-serve ad manager.