Spotify unlocks podcast inventory with Programmatic Guaranteed
Success Story

Spotify unlocks podcast inventory with Programmatic Guaranteed

Spotify is one of the world's most popular audio streaming subscription services - its extensive music library, personalized recommendations, and user-friendly interface make it a popular choice for music listeners globally. And now, with the rise of podcasts, their presence in the audio space continues to grow as well.

This makes their loyal fan base an attractive audience to many advertisers who want to reach listeners at scale and cut through the noise. To do so, Spotify uses Google’s Programmatic Guaranteed for the majority of their programmatic ad campaigns1 - bringing speed and efficiency to their ad campaigns.

More efficient campaigns

Programmatic Guaranteed campaigns can be launched quickly and easily, without the need for lengthy negotiations over contract language or extensive publisher ad trafficking. This is because Programmatic Guaranteed deals are set up by buyers in advance, so advertisers can simply start delivering their ads as soon as the campaign is launched. On average, Spotify saw Programmatic Guaranteed campaigns take 70% less time to launch, with campaign setups taking as little as two days.1

Unlocking podcasts

For years Spotify has been using Programmatic Guaranteed deals for display, video, and audio. So what’s new? Enter podcasts: in 2023 Spotify made podcast ads available through programmatic pipes for the first time ever, leveraging Google Ad Manager. Podcast ads are served to both free and premium users on Spotify. Powered by Spotify’s Streaming Ad Insertion, podcast ads on the platform unlock insights on the confirmed ad impressions, unique reach, completion rate, and a number of other metrics.

“At Spotify, we always seek to improve our advertising capabilities. By making podcasts available via Programmatic Guaranteed we allowed programmatic advertisers to connect with free and premium users on Spotify.”

Emma Vaughn, Global Head of Advertising Business Development & Partnerships, Spotify

And it’s not just Spotify – clients that spend with Spotify, like OMD Germany, are reaping the benefits as well, with podcast ads via PG becoming an integral part of their media plans.

“The availability of clear performance metrics, free asset creation,2 and reporting on confirmed ad impressions are all key benefits for us. We are excited to be early adopters of this offering and have already seen some great results!"

Markus Kerken, Managing Partner Activation Digital, OMD Germany GmbH

What’s next

Spotify has prioritized giving programmatic advertisers the flexibility to transact in the way that makes the most sense for them – whether that’s via their Private Marketplaces or Programmatic Guaranteed.

Most recently, the team announced that thanks to the first-party data available on the Spotify platform, advertisers buying podcasts via Programmatic Guaranteed will be able to target users by age and gender.

Spotify continues to be at the cutting edge of the changes in the ad tech landscape as they help advertisers reach the right users at the right time. Their continued partnership with Google Ad Manager on Programmatic Guaranteed over the years has carried on improving speed and efficiency and made more inventory easily accessible for advertisers.

  1. Spotify internal data, 2023

  2. Free asset creation is a service Spotify provides for their clients and not inherent to Google’s Programmatic Guaranteed

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