Blog

If you own a smartphone and listen to music, chances are you use or at least have heard of Spotify. What you may not know is; what they have going on behind the scenes may affect the way advertisers think looking towards the future. Coming soon to your favorite music streaming service, Spotify Voice-enabled Ads. According to Tech Crunch, Spotify is increasing its investment in voice-enabled ad technology.

Spotify is the largest global audio streaming subscription service with 217 million users in 79 different markets. The extremely popular streaming service is testing voice-enabled advertisements for Unilever’s Axe Body Spray, and a Spotify original podcast, “Stay Free: The Story of the Clash”. These ads will only appear for Spotify’s free mobile listeners in the U.S. market. Users may be startled, as it will appear as a man is talking directly to you while you are driving alone. In the instance of “Stay Free”, the voice in the ad will describe the podcast and then prompt users to say “Play now” to listen to the podcast.

How this may change the advertising landscape

There are currently 2.5 Billion active voice assistants (such as Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home) in the world, and that number will hit 8 Billion by 2023. Spotify is at the forefront of brands utilizing this voice heavy medium for their benefit. Right now, people use these voice assistants to say “Alexa, play the new Ariana Grande album”, or “Alexa, set my alarm for 7:30”, but companies are now looking to use these assistants to speak to the user. Voice ads will be the first time the user will be prompted to do something by their assistant.

One huge advantage this new medium gives marketers is the chance to combat the “screen detox”. Using voice ads completely avoids the growing fad where people are spending less time on their phones and computers.

How small businesses can benefit from Spotify Voice Ads

Once this technology becomes more available and affordable, small businesses can use it to create more personal, one-on-one targeted ads as part of their Digital Marketing Strategy. A bar can reach out to a targeted audience and say something along the lines of “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Come eat, drink, and jam out. To hear more about our drink and food specials, say ‘Yes’”. This new method of advertising brings a fresh take on a call to action.

Spotify competitor, Pandora has confirmed that they will also be testing voice-enabled advertisements by the end of 2019. Get ready to hear more voice-oriented content, both as a user and as a business.