Pros & Cons of Spotify Advertising

At Cobble Hill, we have recently started advertising more on Spotify’s self-serve ad platform. For most of our eCommerce clients, the platform has yielded-not surprisingly- strong results for brand awareness and engagement on site, but typically slow performance on return on ad spend (ROAS).

If you are releasing a new brand, product or service, or are new to a market area, Spotify can definitely help complement a robust launch campaign. That said, it is likely not a standalone ad unit or the first place you should spend your ad dollars.

Here is our overall summary on the pros and cons of advertising on Spotify.

Pros:

• Access to a surprisingly wide variety of ages:

  • 55% of users are under 35 years old (source: siteefy.com)

  • 30% of users are over 55 years old (source: siteefy.com)

• Immersive format with a visual card component

  • Many of our audio ads are 85%-90% completed

• Dip a toe into the audio waters 

  • Minimum spend is only $250 per month 

• Test or rotate multiple ads in quickly before a big buy

• Ability to target zip code specific

• Ability to target based genre of music listened to currently, activity (based on playlist types), or overall music interest (in aggregate)

Cons:

• Minimal targeting outside of the platform

  • Users behavior on the web as a whole is not available 

• Minimal tracking

  • No conversion pixel

  • No native analytics integration

• The audio automated off of a provided script is robotic

• No ability to retarget your previous users

• No lookalike audience data, or 1st part data integrations

Of the cons listed above, there are some ways around the problems outlined. 

Workarounds:

• Lack of native tracking can be improved by using Google Analytics UTMs in URLS, i.e. homepage.com/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=cpc

• Use a promo code in audio and display it in the visual “card” to track back performance (i.e. FALL20SPOT).

• Improve overall ad completion by using an influencer or authentic voice vs the robotic sounding voice.

• Try to minimize the disrupting feel of an old school radio ad. Make the ad feel like a conversation, or a friend telling you about a service they love, not a loud car salesman ad of 90’s.

Bearing all of this information in mind, we could see Spotify ads being particularly effective for many types of campaigns. For example:

• Anything with a focus on local audio

  • Think of your local dentist, lawyer or brick and mortar shop trying to reach a wide audience in a small zip code

• Broader launches to an audience that aligns music easily with a brand

  • We launched a sneakerhead service to a hip hop audience with great effect. Any type of fitness product could work well here too with the “activity” targeting

• Testing

  • Using Spotify as a testing ground of 2 or more ads to measure effectiveness at a small scale very quickly before launching the ads on national radio or higher cost podcasts that are purchased individually. 

Good luck with your Spotify ads! If you need help, reach out to us here (link to contact page).