Spotify Ads: How To Publish a Successful Campaign
With more than 182 million users, Spotify is a great way to connect with people as they enjoy their favorite music or podcast. Users and artists alike have found success with Spotify thanks to their reputation for innovation in streaming interface and accessibility. This makes Spotify ads a fantastic complement to any other marketing efforts you may be making. Audio Spotify advertising is a great way to get your brand in front of new customers. However, Spotify ads come in various forms besides the soundbites played during songs. Hence, given the widespread adoption of Spotify worldwide, now could be a good time to reallocate some of your marketing budgets. If you’re thinking about implementing this shift in your approach, here’s all you need to understand about how Spotify advertising functions and why you should use them for your promotional campaign.
Spotify Ads – Things you Need to Know
The over 256 million monthly active users of Spotify’s free, ad-supported service represent a massive potential audience for advertisers and sponsors. Spotify’s marketing platform provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity for companies to connect with their clients’ target consumers on a personal, engaging, and relatable level thanks to its wide variety of ad formats and demographic reach (including age, gender, and geography). Spotify recommends that advertisements for your customer should include both video and music. Evidence from their study indicates that integrated audio and video campaigns have a more powerful effect on brands. Multiformat campaigns on Spotify are proven to have increased ad recall by 90% and brand recognition by 2.2 times. That’s why, to maximize the effectiveness of their multiformat campaigns, marketers should reap the benefits of Spotify’s highly engaged listeners by focusing on the following three areas:
- Superior communication
- Excellent concept
- contextual significance
When it comes to commercials, Spotify gives businesses the option of airing unmuted videos. As a result, you may rest assured that your client’s advertisements will be heard by the viewer, unlike on video-sharing sites like YouTube. In addition, 61% of Spotify’s video ad inventory is seen on mobile devices, so optimize your videos for mobile viewing.
What are Ad Scripts & How to Use Them?
You might think of a script as the story told in words. It generates concepts for realizing the story in moving images, sounds, and videos. Scripts for Spotify ads have the dual purpose of attracting viewers and setting the stage for the creative realization of the ad. Your Spotify ad script should reflect your brand’s voice among the many other elements that go into making a winning ad. Your brand voice should be consistent with the tone of your website and blog entries, not radically different. The tone chosen by some will be highly serious, while that of others will include elements of humor. Ensure that the content you select does not already exist in another location. Moreover, Spotify can produce a voiceover for your script. Just pick a voice type you like, provide them with the script, and they’ll take care of the rest at no extra Spotify advertising costs to you. They offer a music library you can peruse if you opt for this route (or you can upload your own if you need to. Remember that your ad will play in the context of a user’s Spotify listening session. Modifying your script to include references to Spotify’s setting may strengthen your appeal to the platform’s target audience.
Why Should You Advertise on Spotify?
“Streaming radio” is a part of the advertising industry that includes services like Spotify, Pandora, and others. While there are many die-hard fans of classic radio, the percentage of people who listen to radio online at least once a month has grown substantially in the past 15 years. However, by 2021, 68% of the U.S. community would regularly tune in to online radio, up from just 20% in 2007. This demonstrates the promising potential for advertising revenue on these online audio-streaming services. If you need further convincing that businesses should be advertising on Spotify, consider the following:
- Increases in Spotify’s Monthly Userbase Show No Signs of Slowing Down. There are 365 million active monthly Spotify subscribers as of Q2 2021. That’s over six times as many as use the competing service, Pandora.
- Most Spotify listeners will be able to see advertising. With 200 million of Spotify’s 365 million unique monthly on the free tier, they are potentially exposed to advertisements.
- All demographics, regardless of age or gender, enjoy using Spotify. The largest demographic of ages 25 to 34 accounts for 29% of users, and the 55 and up demographic makes up 19%. Additionally, men make up 56% of Spotify users, while women account for 44%.
- Users of audio Spotify advertising say they’ve found the feature helpful in learning about new companies and goods. Over 61% of Spotify users agree that the service has aided them in learning about new businesses and offerings, according to research conducted by Spotify and Qualtrics Entertainment.
- Producing advertising and reaching your target audience on Spotify is now simpler than ever with the help of Spotify Ad Studio. As an advertiser, all you need to do to take advantage of Spotify’s efficient advertising platform is submit a script for your ad, and we’ll take care of the rest.
An Overview of Spotify Ads Manager
Create short audio or video advertising (no more than 30 seconds) with Spotify Ad Manager. If you use Spotify for free, you’ll see ads while you listen on mobile or desktop during the intervals between songs and podcasts. It also doesn’t require you to be an expert in audio production. Spotify’s advertisements studio provides free tools that make it easy to produce a memorable commercial. Professionals in various fields can offer assistance, including voiceover acting, script consultation, and strategy development.
Spotify Ads Cost
With a $250 budget, you can get your Spotify Ads campaign up and running. Between $15 and $25 is the typical cost per thousand impressions. Therefore a $250 campaign would likely generate 10,000-16,000 impressions. Naturally, there are a plethora of factors that can affect the final price:
- Where You Typically Place Your Commercials: Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) can be harder to obtain if you’re picky about which platforms to show ads on (iOS vs. Android vs desktop).
- Location-Based Targeting: Your CPMs may also be affected by factors like region, age range, gender, and more sophisticated forms of targeting.
List of Various Spotify Ads
Spotify ads are not restricted to audio only, contrary to popular belief. You can choose from a wide variety of advertising formats on Spotify. So, let’s have a look at how each one works:
Audio Ads
An audio ad is one of the most common types of adverts heard on Spotify. These commercials will play during the song breaks. In many cases, listeners will listen to multiple of these commercials in a row before being able to resume their previously playing tracks. These Spotify ads can be played at any time, on any device, or on any day. If you want to avoid your listeners skipping your advertising, they’re a terrific choice because you can talk to them directly while they’re listening. These Spotify commercials feature an accompanying image that reinforces your ad’s message, whether viewed on a desktop or mobile device.
Video Ads(vertical)
In addition to audio Spotify ads, you may now use video ads on Spotify. Video advertisements on Spotify appear as users search for songs or podcasts. So users can see them when they actively interacts with the Spotify app or player. This increases the likelihood that your intended audience will watch your video.
Sponsored Sessions
These advertisements only appear on mobile and tablet devices. Sponsored sessions allow listeners to listen to music or podcasts without interruption for 30 minutes in exchange for viewing a full-length commercial. A mobile session begins with a popup offering the user a preview of the full video. Then, in compensation for 30 minutes of ad-free listening, they can keep viewing it until the finish. They can either take advantage of the offer and see the platform’s usual adverts for the rest of their session or click away. If you already have a proven-effective advertisement, this strategy may be successful. Instead of trying to persuade listeners by playing a short clip in between sessions, you may play the entire thing at the outset, increasing the likelihood that they will decide before they even start listening.
Display Ads
Spotify ads are more than just audio that plays between songs. Display advertising allows you to make a big splash with a new campaign by taking up the Spotify homepage or providing an immersive Overlay experience when a user launches the Spotify app. Here is a rundown of Spotify’s several display advertising alternatives.
Homepage Takeover
Use a Spotify Desktop Homepage Takeover to have them feature your brand prominently for an entire day. To further pique the interest of your audience, you can incorporate interactive aspects by using rich media (YouTube links, GIFs, hyperlinks, etc.) and clicking on the ad. But it can only be viewed on the larger screens of desktops or laptops.
Megabanner
It’s possible to put purely visual ads on various spots on the Spotify homepage. Advertisements in the form of banners, which are really just images, can be visible at the very top of the browser window when using Spotify. When a user initially logs in, they may see a banner ad, but as the listening session progresses, the ad will slide to the bottom of the page. It’s a great place to put a display ad because people always see it.
Overlay
When users relaunch the app, they will always see the same commercial, an overlay ad. There is no sound or moving images; instead, it resembles a banner ad you can see in a mobile app or website.
Leaderboard
You can display this ad for 30 seconds on a desktop and in the web player on Spotify.
Sponsored Playlists
The sponsored playlist is only one example of the novel advertising formats available to companies. Advertisers can reach the target audience most likely to be interested in their products by taking advantage of this sponsorship opportunity. Spotify users can choose from thousands of curated playlists, and advertisers can target their message to people listening to a specific playlist. Even when the ad’s audio and visuals are muted, its presence in the Spotify queue remains unchanged.
6 Steps to Create a Successful Spotify Ad Campaign
Here is a rundown of the procedures involved in making your first advertisement.
1. Sign Up For A New Account
If you don’t already have one, the first thing to do is to sign up for an account. Basic information about you and your company will need to be entered. After signing up, you’ll be taken to a dashboard. This is where you begin creating your first advertisement for Spotify.
2. Set Objective
It’s time to give your campaign a title and select a goal. For instance, the purpose of your Spotify advertising could be to raise awareness of your agency. So you can offer 50% off all services for the entire month.
3. Pick an Ad Format
Select the ad format and distribution platform that interests you on the following page. It’s up to you to decide whether the ad should be heard or seen and in what medium it should be displayed.
4. Do Some Budgeting
The cost per campaign in Ad Studio begins at $250. Create a successful campaign by tailoring it to the client’s cost, timing, and frequency needs. You only pay when an ad gets seen, and you can modify your spending limit according to how well it’s performing in terms of the targeting and the number of impressions it receives.
5. Define Your Target Audience
You can target the proper audience for your Spotify ads by the following factors:
- Demographic: location, age, gender, and languages
- Contexts: music, platforms
- Behaviors: fan base, interests
- Custom targeting: Spotify’s existing full-service sales team allows advertisers to select their target audience. But your organization can get in touch with them to find out more.
6. Create Your Spotify Ads
After you’ve determined how you’d like your Spotify ads to look and function, you can move on to developing the actual ads themselves. This is where you’ll add your media file. You’ll upload your audio file and a visual to accompany it if you’re doing an audio ad. Your ad will need a call to action (CTA) that specifies the desired response from the target audience. Spotify gives you a sneak peek of how your ads will look and sound so you can make adjustments and provide a more satisfying ad experience. Once you’ve finished this, you’re ready to create your first ad for Spotify.
Track your Spotify Ad’s Performance
Throughout the campaign, you will have access to up-to-the-minute reports on the efficacy of your ads and the utilization of your allocated funds. You may monitor progress toward targets and make on-the-fly adjustments with Ad Studio. Moreover, it’s simple to link your client’s Spotify Ads account so that you can import and visualize their campaign data and data from 70 additional marketing platforms.
Conclusion
For businesses of all sizes, the ability to reach their target audience with targeted Spotify ads is a game-changer. Millions of people from all walks of life use the site so that advertisers can reach their target audience precisely. Even if you’re used to playing commercials on the radio, you might want to give the new online audio advertising available through Spotify a try. You’ll love the Spotify advertising experience because of the flexible audience targeting options, flexible budgeting, and wealth of free advertising tools.