Spotify is experimenting with letting free users skip all ads

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: Advertisers and listeners alike are paying close attention to Spotify's latest experiment, and for good reason. For advertisers, it could mean more targeted ad opportunities and for listeners, they can get right back to the music in a jiffy.

Spotify is conducting an experiment in Australia in which it is allowing listeners to skip audio and video ads at will. Currently, only premium (paying) subscribers can skip ads.

Allowing free tier users to skip ads whenever they want – and as often as they want – may seem counterintuitive but Spotify’s reasoning makes sense.

Danielle Lee, global head of partner solutions at Spotify, tells AdAge that the approach is called Active Media. The idea is that listeners will only skip ads they are not interested in, thus allowing Spotify to better curate ads and improve the outcomes delivered to brands.

“Just as we create these personalized experiences like Discover Weekly, and the magic that brings to our consumers, we want to inject that concept into the advertising experience,” Lee said.

With Active Media, advertisers won’t have to pay for ads that are skipped.

Again, this feature only rolled out in testing last month and only in Australia. The hope, however, is to bring Active Media to a global audience.

It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds considering YouTube also allows users to skip some of its ads. Perhaps a mix where some ads are skippable and some aren’t would be the best approach?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/75945-spotify-experimenting-letting-free-users-skip-all-ads.html

 

[toooooot]

I have tried some of Spotify like free tier services. I don't like them. I feel like I am a slave whos purpose is to hear about "the great deals." There is only 24 hours to fit all of the offers these companies wanna throw at us.

I can already see the future where I can hear ads along the content because they need more time for them and in between the content isn't enough anymore.
I have stopped using anything I cant afford or don't wanna pay for. Being forced to hear/watch ads for a free content is too much of a price to pay.

 

[Matt B]

I can't see this working out for the advertisers or Spotify's revenue long term. I would skip every ad no matter what, providing of course I'm near my device to physically do so.

It would be worth spending a few seconds skipping to save the £9.99/month premium fee. No?