Spotify has launched two new advertising formats, Sponsored Playlists and Carousel Ads, alongside Split Testing and Automated Bid in its Ads Manager platform.
The launch comes as digital audio advertising gains momentum in Australia.
IAB Australia’s Internet Advertising Revenue Report released last month found digital audio revenue up 8.5% year-on-year, identifying audience attention, brand building, brand integrations, custom executions, and access to talent and content creators as the key drivers of investment.
Spotify's latest advertising push looks to capitalise on this momentum, offering brands new ways to buy, measure and integrate into the platform's content ecosystem.
Adrian Bingham, Spotify's head of sales AUNZ, said Carousel Ads is a new multi-card format in the Spotify Now Playing view, with up to six cards including image, link and pricing details, priced on a CPM basis and tailored to each individual client.
"It's really about bringing visual stories to life on Spotify - moving away from just audio, video and display into this new swipeable format," Bingham told AdNews.
"It's quite a shift for us, and it's definitely creating more real estate for brands as well."
Sponsored Playlists revamp an existing format, allowing brands to own a share of Spotify's top playlists for a set period of time, including RapCaviar, New Music Friday and Today's Top Hits.
Bingham said the tool aims to bring "brands closer to culture and fandom."
Flagship playlists such as Discover Weekly and Release Radar are priced at two to three times the cost of moment-based playlists, with packages tailored to each client.
"The sponsorship is attached to the playlist specifically. As long as a user engages with that playlist, that brand is natively woven through the sponsorship," said Bingham.
Advertisers will also be able to test different creative elements in Spotify's Ads Manager to understand what best resonates with their audiences, with access to completion rate, click-through rate, video view expand rate, cost per click and cost per acquisition metrics.
Spotify has also introduced automated bidding to Ads Manager. Designed to deliver campaign budgets without the need for manual bidding, the service relies on machine learning to optimise and automatically adjust to market dynamics.
"A lot of our evolution on the ad side of the house is bringing machine learning and AI to drive better outcomes for the user on the platform, making sure they receive the right ads - and from a brand's perspective, making sure their ads are in front of the right people as well," said Bingham.
Bingham noted that Spotify has implemented guardrails to ensure ad spend will remain brand-controlled.
"Full control sits either with the media agency, the in-house team, or the client, on what sort of guardrails and targeting overlays they set up,” said Bingham.
“We have a managed service with programmatic, guaranteed and direct IO, we work with the brand itself, set up and recommend what we think is the best structure for that campaign, they sign off, and then that runs."
Spotify cited its multiyear partnership with the Australian Federal Government as evidence of the brand trust its platform can deliver.
First established in 2024 to raise awareness on the harms of vaping among young people, the campaign has now entered its third phase with the government utilising AI DJ to target young Australians.
This campaign will be the first-ever integration of Spotify DJ-voiced audio ads in the JAPAC market.
"By using his [the DJ's] voice as a native call-out for the campaign, it added that extra layer of recognition and trust, especially around that Gen Z audience they were trying to target," said Bingham.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.