How does Spotify serve as a platform for the advertising industry? What brands have monetised Spotify?
In the last nine months, we have worked with 50 brands like Netflix, Adidas, Subway, Pizza Hut and more to serve as a platform for audience engagement. We have localised our content very early to reach the Indian audience by creating local playlists, podcasts and incorporating Indian music which helps to create a listening user base of the local audience. The ads on our platform are relevant and focussed on the user's behaviour, mood and lifestyle.
Focusing on a young listening audience, what is the advertising strategy that brands and marketers should follow?
We want to help brands to create personalised content which directly communicates with our listeners. We do not want to stream ad campaigns which our users dislike or get irritated with. We are understanding our users by collecting data in terms of behaviour, mood, age group, daily activities, taste in music, geography and choice of preference. We want brands and agencies to analyse this data and create campaigns which are directly relevant and connect to our listeners. Brands can provide solutions to our listeners by understanding their moods.
How should brands, ad agencies and marketers capitalise Spotify as a platform for advertising? What does Spotify offer?
Over 70% of our listeners are below 24 years of age which indicates we have a majority of the young audience. Brands like Adidas and Netflix which cater to millenials and GenZ have leveraged this target audience. Also, the average listening time of users is around 21.5 hours per week which clearly indicates that brands can reach a wider audience through audio or visual ads.
How do you strike the balance between ad-free streaming and subscription-based model? What is your revenue focus?
Currently, we have both advertising and subscription-based revenue model, globally it is 57 per cent free and 43 per cent subscription streaming. We are paying equal attention to both the models as we want to provide listeners ad-free streaming while facilitating brands to engage with the listeners.
How do you plan to attract more brands in the future? What are the integrated and strategic marketing plans for 2020?
We are providing sponsored content where brands can provide 30 minutes of uninterrupted audio in exchange for an attentive video by the brand. Advertising in podcasts is the way forward as the advertisements incorporated during a podcast are more focussed in terms of its approach and propagated by the person hosting the podcast which makes it quite appealing to listeners. Singh wants Spotify India to lead the charge in making Streaming Audio mainstream in the next 12 to 24 months. He aims to focus on audio conversations, stories, podcasts, international and local music, and seamless content to market the moment experienced by listeners.
