Spotify is splashing a new product in the company’s self-serve advertising manager. Called Podcast Streams, it is open to podcasters and podcast companies of all levels.
Analysis of behavior signals is at the center of this new targeting. Spotify’s stated goal is to “take campaigns beyond standard targeting to reach engaged audiences who are more likely to listen to podcasts.” The more advanced targeting is defined by what Spotify is calling objectives. There are six objectives:
- Promote your podcast to Spotify’s 600M+ monthly active users.
- Boost streams for your podcast using Spotify’s advanced targeting tools—optimized to serve relevant ads to the relevant audiences.
- Leverage both audio and video formats, including vertical video, to ensure that your ad is heard and seen.
- Make informed adjustments mid-campaign based on how listeners respond to your message in order to optimize performance.
- Automatically re-target listeners with clickable call-to-action (CTA) cards, helping to drive traffic to your show.
- Measure success using Streaming Conversion Metrics to understand exactly how your campaign is driving streams of your podcast and growing your audience, in real time.
Podcast brands, and specific podcast episodes, can be targeted by Podcast Streams objectives. The key question is what’s new about Podcast Streams which differentiates from Spotify’s normal robust targeting. Spotify’s answer:
“[Podcast Streams] is powered by a model which incorporates signals from anonymized user actions on the Spotify app, in order to serve relevant ad impressions across both music and podcast inventory. These behavioral signals take your campaign beyond what standard targeting can offer, allowing us to reach an engaged audience who are more likely to listen to podcasts.” –Spotify
Spotify is promising instant reporting of success in this model. “Spotify can track users from the moment they see or hear your ad to the second they stream your content,” the company says. There are three main campaign metrics Spotify promises:
- Streams = a stream within 14 days of exposure to the ad
- New Listeners = # of unique users who listened to a podcast for the first time
- New Listener Streams = # of streams from New Listeners
A slew of creative requirements and technical specifications accompany this announcement, detailing audio, video, ad copy and logo requirements.
