Spotify Unveils New Advertising Tools at First Advance Event

Spotify is introducing a suite of new tools, as the audio giant makes a larger commitment to its advertising business. The new tools include the ability for advertisers in the U.S.

to use generative AI to create scripts and voice overs in Spotify’s Ads Manager for the first time, as well as new programmatic offerings and measurement tools for advertisers to evaluate how their ads are performing on the platform. Additionally, Spotify is establishing new brand partnerships with Visa and Kona Big Wave, through its in-house consultancy offering, Spotify AUX. The announcements came as Spotify held its first advance event in New York Wednesday for advertisers, ahead of the traditional upfronts and newfronts.



The company, which achieved its first full year of profitability in 2024, sees further opportunity in its advertising business, but also saw ad revenue growth slow down in the second half of the year. In the fourth-quarter, the company said growth in music and podcast advertising was driven by growth in impressions sold, but partially offset by softness in pricing. Automated sales channels were the largest contributors to advertising growth.

Spotify also pushes its free users toward premium subscriptions, without ads, which could cut down on its advertising ambitions. Per the most recent numbers, Spotify had 263 million premium subscribers and 425 million ad-supported monthly active users. The majority of the company’s revenue is derived from premium subscriptions, with premium bringing in €3.

7 billion in revenue and ad-supported bringing in €537 million in the fourth quarter. However, Bridget Evans, Spotify’s global head of ads business marketing, pointed to the large ad-supported audience in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, and said she believes advertisers view Spotify as a “daily companion” for listeners, and therefore a chance to get closer to engaged users. The company says it has also been seeing greater engagement with its expanded offerings.

“I would say that like half of our audience is on the premium tier, and so we want to make sure both experiences are positive for the consumer, and positive for brands,” Evans said..