The world’s love for music is no secret, after all, Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed that “Without music, life would be a mistake.” You only have to look at Spotify, the music streaming app, to appreciate the love the world has for music.
Today, more people are listening to music than ever before. The 2019 IFPI’s Global Music Report showed there was a 9.7% growth for the global recorded music market in 2018. The report also says online streaming companies now account for almost half of the worldwide music revenues. If you are a business owner, these numbers should interest you.
In this digital age, it is easier to track your target customers and reach them with relevant ads. Now that most of your target customers are streaming music online, this should become your next marketing frontier.
Spotify is the leading music app, and this post explores how brands can harness the power of music through Spotify audio ads.
But if you prefer to watch a video instead, click here:
Incredible Spotify Statistics
Spotify has emerged as one of the essential music streaming services. Its users are accessing an extensive collection of music in history, podcasts and a variety of other audio content.
In 2019, the platform had over 248 million monthly active users (MAUs). This streaming service is dominating the market, with its 124 million subscribers daily listeners. It is also the highest-grossing music app on Apple Store by revenue. As a digital marketer, these numbers are hard to ignore.
Harnessing Numbers with Audio Ads in Spotify Commercials
While most people download Spotify for the music, there is a lot of potential for businesses through Spotify audio ads.
Creating a Spotify commercial is not the first thing that comes to mind when planning your marketing campaign. However, looking at the music streaming numbers on these apps, it is time to change your stand.
Spotify controls a third of the music streaming business. Now consider that there were 278 million streaming music subscribers in 2018. By bearing in mind the stats, it would be foolish not to take advantage of such a potential advert goldmine.
The digital marketing landscape is changing rapidly. Quick adaptations are crucial in such fluctuating situations. By adopting new advertising tools such as Spotify commercials, you reach a broader customer base and stay ahead of the competition.
It is no wonder that some of the biggest brands, including Samsung, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and BMW, were among the first to create Spotify ads.
Spotify Ad Studio
The Spotify Ad Studio is the platform where businesses can now create short 30-second ads. The music streaming company promotes the advertising platform as a self-serve platform that empowers businesses of all sizes to connect with Spotify’s highly engaged audience of young music streamers.
The $250 entry point allows smaller businesses without a large marketing budget to capitalize on the young population’s love for music. The Spotify Ad Studio also offers advertisers useful but straightforward tools to create high-quality Spotify audio ads. From startups to local businesses, it is now possible to create highly engaging ads that convert.
The Growth of Spotify Commercials
The Spotify commercials concept started in September 2017 in the Beta version. The company says that this has become the Spotify’s fastest-growing advertising channel based on revenue growth and advertiser growth.
Spotify has grown on the backdrop of innovative technology; it is evident in their Ads Studio. They have continued releasing new features and tools for advertisers to create more effective ads. With such features, businesses find it easier to reach their target audience amidst the clutter on the digital platforms.
If you are a business owner or a marketer, a Spotify commercial could be the game changer you are after. The competition on the digital marketing landscape is getting stiffer by the day: only the most creative advertisers will survive.
While most marketers now focus on visual marketing, there’s immense potential for audios in the right environment. A Spotify commercial is offering listeners a unique and engaging screenless moment, which is hard to replicate with visuals.
Spotify audio ads will create chances for you to reach your customers in an engaging and uncluttered environment. Why struggle and already Spotify users are engaged on the platform. Tap into the Engagement and improve the chances of your audio ad converting.
How Spotify commercials Work
Ready to start advertising on Spotify? It’s essential to understand how these ads work.
There are two ways to access this content. First is through subscription to the premium service without adverts (at $9.99 per month). The other is free access to content but with ads in between. These commercial spots will enable you to reach Spotify listeners through creative audio ads.
Here are the steps for creating your Spotify ad:
1. Sign Up
The Spotify Ad Studio is an easy-to-use self-serve platform. You can either upload your audio or write an audio script for which the platform provides a voice-over actor.
Another crucial feature on the Ads Studio is the targeting settings. They will help you narrow down on your target audience, which increases the efficiency of your advert.
2. Choose Your Ad’s Objective and Name
It’s essential to choose what you want to achieve with your Spotify ad. This can be:
- Rising awareness of your business or,
- Promoting music or a concert
You will also choose the name of your audio ad, which is only visible to you.
3. Defining Your Audience
This is another incredible feature on the Spotify Ad Studio. You can target by:
- Demographics: These factors include age, gender, states, or DMAs (designated market areas) or cities.
- Listening behavior: You can target listeners across all music tastes (“Target All Music”) or by genre (such as Metal, Jazz, Christian, EDM, Alternative, Blues, Holiday, or Classical).
- Target by Platform: You can opt fora platform-specific ad by targeting iOS, Android, or Desktop users.
There’s one additional targeting option that you can choose from interest, genre, or real-time context targeting.
4. Spotify Ad Budget
After defining your audience, you’ll set your budget. There’s a minimum spending requirement of $250 broken down to $0.015-$0.025 per each ad served. Many factors determine the cost of your ad, including the country and target audience. It’s important to understand these factors to make the most of your ad budget.
The Spotify Ad Studio distributes the budget between the start and end date of your campaign. Due to the approval time, the start date is at least two days from the current period.
5. The Creative Process
At this point, you can upload your audio if you already have it. The drop and drag feature makes it easy to upload your audio ad on the platform. If you don’t have one, there are features to help you create and produce one.
If you have a script for your audio, choose the “Request Voice-over” option, and Spotify will find the best voice over talent for your ad. You will then get a notification within 24-48 hours to review your ad and approve or reject it.
6. Add image and URL
You can also add a visual and a link to your audio. The image and the URL will display when your audio plays. This increases the chance of a click.
7. Reporting
As an advertiser, appreciate the importance of ad tracking to determine the effectiveness of your campaign. Spotify provides stats 24 hours after the launch of your audio ad.
Some of the crucial metrics include clicks, ads served, audience metrics, clickthrough rate, frequency, and reach. You’ll get the key performance indicators (KPIs) in the summary of the ad campaign and targeting.
Why Leverage Spotify Audio Ads
With so much clutter on the digital marketing platforms, it’s hard for small businesses to reach their target audience.
However, with a little creativity, rejuvenate your marketing campaigns through targeted marketing. Spotify commercials are one smart way to reach an engaged audience.
Advantages of Using Spotify Commercials
- Access to a broad audience: People love music. Spotify boasts the most substantial music audience base. With over 200 million subscribers on the platform, advertising on Spotify is a no brainer for any marketer.
- Must-listen ads: Non-paying members on Spotify have to listen to your ad. Unlike other digital platforms, there’s no way to skip it; helping increase conversion.
- Great exposure: Spotify users spend a lot of time on the platform. It is one of the top ten most popular mobile apps. If you have excellent ad content, you’ll see great results from your campaign.
- Seamless ads: The platform commits to provide the best user experience to users. As such, they choose the ads to include in the listening experience carefully. They also add the ad seamlessly into the listening session to avoid t disruption.
- Leverage ad metrics: You can evaluate the performance of your audio ad based on available metrics. These include the total number of ads served, number of clicks, Click-through rate (CTR), number of unique people who heard your Spotify ad (reach), and frequency (number of times each listener listened to your ad).
- Leverage screenless moments: While video has become crucial for marketing, there are many situations where screenless advertising works better. For instance, people listen to audios when working, during their commute, cooking, working out, or in their leisure time. With your Spotify ad, you will reach your target audience at the opportune moments.
- Get inspired: if you haven’t used audio marketing before, Spotify gives you a chance to see how other small businesses are making the best of these ads. You can click on sample audios from different companies to get a gist of what to do.
- Great ad creation features: From the familiar interface, “request voice-over,” targeting, link to URL, reporting metrics to low CPL (cost per listen), Spotify Ad Studio has everything a small business needs to make impressive ads.
- Quick turn around and revisions: You will get feedback on your audio within 48 hours. Changes are also easy to make on the dashboard.
Final Thoughts
Is your marketing campaign struggling to meet its objectives? If so, it’s time to think outside the box. A Spotify commercial is a smart and innovative strategy to help you reach a targeted and already engaged audience. You can now harness the power of music by advertising on the popular music streaming platform. The Spotify Ad Studio offers you easy-to-use tools to create your audio. What’s more, you will get comprehensive ad performance metrics for robust decision making. It is a great marketing solution if you are targeting the younger population.
