The battle to woo advertisers to new forms of audio continues. On Thursday, Spotify announced that, for the first time ever, brands can now sponsor Spotify’s owned and operated playlists. Spotify has over 400 of them. To start, 25 will be open for sponsorships.
In a sort of beta, a few weeks ago, Kia sponsored New Music Friday to introduce its new Kia Sportage. Kia promoted the Sportage to users as they discovered new music throughout the week. And Spotify reports the “results have been outstanding, both in terms of audience engagement and brand impact.”
Some of Spotify’s playlists have millions of followers. Here are a few that are now available for sponsorship:
Today’s Top Hits: 8M Followers
Rap Caviar: 3M Followers
ElectroNOW: 2.5M Followers
Hot Country: 2.4M Followers
Listeners who use the free service have to listen to ads. Those who pay the $9.99 monthly fee are not served ads and will not see the sponsors. Ad Age reports that, “Ads will be served in sponsored playlists as normal, although the first ad break will go to the sponsor, which will also receive category exclusivity. Sponsorships will be sold for a week at a time.”
Read more about the new Spotify sponsorships HERE.
