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Mini guide on Spotify Ads


Mini guide on Spotify Ads

More and more big players are opening up to the SME market with regards to the possibility of doing self-service advertising: an example of this is Spotify, which recently launched Ad Studio by Spotify, the platform for advertising on Spotify.


This article (which was born as a summary of the launch webinar of the platform itself) is a mini introductory guide for those who want to get an idea of how to start advertising on Spotify.


Summary:


Spotify's Audience

In Italy, unlike other countries, 60% of users use Spotify Free: if you're thinking of a bunch of low-spending people who want to save on their subscription... you're wrong!


The Italian public, due to its socio-cultural composition, is simply more accustomed to "undergoing" advertising and in Italy "watching" (we'll look at the formats in more detail later) a commercial in exchange for 30 minutes without interruptions and a few skips is accepted.


This means that the platform can reach an audience of approximately 11 million people in Italy (active every month):

spotify ads audience in italy
Copyright Spotify

But here comes the part that I personally find most interesting, that is, the context of Spotify's use: the " screen-free moments " are defined, almost like gray areas in which it is difficult to intercept the user with other channels based on the use of images (Social Media Advertising, Display, PPC, etc.).


But is it possible to quantify these "screen-free moments"? According to a study by the streaming platform, the time spent listening to audio on mobile is greater than that spent on social media, video consumption and gaming (US market).

Time spent streaming audio from mobile has surpassed time spent on social media, watching videos or playing games

Moments of "screen-free" use

But what are these moments of use? Here they are summarized in the image below:

"screen-free" moments
Copyright Spotify

If you think about it, in fact, Spotify is the "soundtrack" of many moments during the day, and here lies the key: combining listening intent with targeted ADV.


Spotify helps you understand what your users are doing at the moment and this allows you to build personalized messages on the spot .


It is a fundamental element for the construction of the message because it can undermine the impermeability to advertising when (in some cases) the public's attention is high, or in any case circumstantial in a context.


Targeting

That said, beyond the geographic area (up to postcode level), gender and age (I know, you took these for granted) there are three other targeting elements, which can be mixed together: interests, real-time contexts and musical genres:

targeting options in spotify ads

Here is the detail of interest targeting:

interests available in spotify ads

And the really interesting one about real-time context (taken from the playlist people listen to):

contexts of use spotify

It is clear that the possibility arises (as on YouTube) of advertising aimed at the context and intention of the moment of use.


Unlike Facebook Ads, for example, which delivers advertising regardless of an identifiable intent/action, it is possible to speak to people while they are performing an action for which we could be useful.


For example, letting people who run know about the existence of wireless headphones designed for running, while they run. Cool, right?


As with other platforms, the system displays a "thermometer" that estimates the reach of the ad and the probability that the budget will be spent. Are you wondering what the minimum budget is for a Spotify Ads campaign? €250 spendable in a time frame set by you .


Creating the audio spot

Also very interesting is the free service made available by the platform: the free creation in 24 hours with professional speakers of audio spots for your campaigns (also variants to test):

how to spotify create free audio ads

You can choose the background track (or upload it) and follow a guided path to have the spot created for free:

You write a script (it's best to have read the tips and guidelines for an audio spot first), you choose the language and the vocal profile (i.e. the actor's gender and age) to be able to get in tune with the audience by personifying the message with a voice that is similar to the target.


Here are Spotify Ads guidelines for creating an effective ad:



Final call to action

In addition to the sound ad, the ad format also features a clickable companion banner that matches the ad's CTA:

This point is very important because the Spotify Ads guidelines suggest as essential elements the repetition of the brand and the closing with an impactful phrase consistent with the image's call to action.


Conclusions

In my opinion, this is a great opportunity to create localized brand awareness campaigns that have the potential to generate a strong memory in the people who listen to them, precisely because they can be contextualized in the moment of listening consistent with the use of the product or service.


And what do you think? Write it below in the comments!

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