Spotify is making its ads more interactive with the launch of a new feature called “Interactive Ads.” The new feature allows users to control playback of an ad by pressing a button that appears when the ad starts playing. The button can be used to skip ahead or backward in the ad, and it also allows users to share the ad with friends. “Interactive Ads are a great way for us to connect with our listeners and give them more control over how they experience our content,” said Spotify’s head of marketing, Jonathan Prince. “We hope that by making it easier for people to interact with our ads, we’ll encourage them to listen longer and explore more of what we have to offer.” The new feature is available on desktop and mobile versions of Spotify, and it will be added to all ads starting next week. ..
Here’s how Spotify describes its new interactive ad in a blog post:
Essentially, when a podcast presenter is telling you about a product through an ad, they can create a card with a clickable link to go along with the ad. If you want to support the show you’re listening to, you can click the ad and redeem the offer. This prevents you from remembering complicated URLs or promo codes, as the offer is embedded in the link.
That sounds fine, as you’re listening to an ad anyway, so seeing a visual card representing it doesn’t sound terrible. However, there’s another part of this that might upset some users. “CTA cards will appear in the app as soon as a podcast ad begins playing and will resurface later on while you’re exploring the Spotify app—making it easier to check out the brand, product, or service you heard about while listening,” says Spotify.
Showing ads outside of the actual podcast might upset people, as now the ad they were forced to sit through during their podcast is following them. Spotify didn’t say whether this only applied to free users, either. Spotify Premium users seeing ads outside of the podcast itself is sure to upset many paying users.
We’ll have to wait and see precisely how Spotify implements this going forward. The feature is scheduled to roll out today to “select Spotify Original & Exclusive podcasts in the US.” Once it’s more widely available, we’ll be able to better gauge if this is a positive move for listeners since it makes it easier for them to support the shows they like or an intrusive way to implement more ads into Spotify.
