Why video ads on Spotify are a game-changer for your brand

Each month, millions of fans tune into Spotify, and they don’t just listen—they watch too. In 2024, time spent with video on the platform increased by 44% year-over-year, and by 81% for Gen Z specifically.¹

In fact, there are many reasons why fans spend time looking at their screens while using Spotify—whether it’s watching video podcasts or music videos, curating new playlists, discovering new music, or searching for what they want to play next. In short, Spotify users actively—and frequently—engage with the app while streaming content, creating many opportunities for advertisers to break through with their own visual message.

All eyes on you

While fans are spending more and more time with video on Spotify, you may also be wondering—do they actually pay attention to the ads that appear on their screens?

TL;DR: Yes, they do.

In fact, Spotify’s video formats capture double the attention that social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat receive, according to an Adelaide study.²

That same study found that Spotify video ads average ~29% above Adelaide's attention benchmark for OLV, surpassing platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn and X.³

What are the different types of video ads on Spotify?

Video ads are always served when the Spotify app is in focus, but whether the sound autoplays or not depends on the format you choose.

Our sound-on format, Video Takeover, is delivered during a listening session when a user is actively browsing the app to discover music and podcasts. You can run both horizontal and vertical video ads with this format. The ads include a companion banner, or CTA card, with a customizable call-to-action to help drive engagement.

Opt-In Video is our sound-off, non-interruptive video ad format. Unlike sound-on formats, Opt-In Video is served on mobile only in the Now Playing View (NPV), in place of the audio artwork, when users are engaging with the app. Opt-In Video ads are optimized to reach listeners who are likely to view your video and be receptive to your brand message.

You can also enhance an audio-only campaign with visual effects, by adding our looping video feature, Canvas for Advertisers, to your audio ads. This immersive companion asset helps tell a richer, more engaging story about your product or brand. Find out more here.

Picking the right format for your Ads Manager campaign

Spotify Ads Manager is built to help advertisers make an impact whatever their goal—from campaigns that aim to raise brand awareness to those more focused on lower-funnel outcomes like increased web traffic.

When setting up an Ads Manager campaign, you’ll get to pick an objective that best suits your business goals—choose from Reach, Impressions, Video Views, Clicks, or Streams—and there is a recommended video solution to support any one of them.

If you want to generate as many views of your video ad as possible, we recommend selecting the video views objective, allowing you to tap into our Opt-In Video format. With any other objective selected, you can run ads via Video Takeover.

Got ready-made creative? Upload it to Ads Manager.

It’s easy to repurpose any existing video creative that you may have—just go ahead and upload it to Ads Manager when setting up your campaign. Before you do, make sure your creative meets your chosen format’s technical requirements, which you can navigate to from our Video Formats page.

Start connecting with your audience via video on Spotify

Video ads on Spotify can play a crucial role in your overall advertising strategy, helping you to build awareness of your business or brand, and drive incremental lifts across key metrics, as research has shown: