Spotify share further information on the extent of their advertising data

At the Advertising Week Europe conference last week, Danielle Lee, the global head of partner solutions at Spotify, spoke in detail about the data the streaming giant offer to prospective advertisers.

Lee was speaking to an audience of brand directors about advertising opportunities within audio data. “On social, you curate your social-media feed to create a picture of yourself,” Lee told the audience, “but music is about participating in your most vulnerable moments.”

Quartz summarised the key areas of data they track among their users.

  • In general, the service studies each consumer’s listening habits for a broader understanding of his or her mood, tastes, values, and mindset.
  • Spotify’s playlists act as consumer segmentation. Advertisers aren’t just able to target exercise playlists, for example—they can also now track when a user stops exercising and play ads specifically geared toward a dormant fitness enthusiast.
  • Spotify has developed a “real-time moments” advertising tool that lets brands connect with listeners depending on what they’re most likely doing at that moment, such as partying, having dinner, or working out.

Spotify have made no secret of their deep data delving, it formed the basis of their cheeky end-of-year billboard campaign in 2016.

Interestingly, the data is only applicable to users of their free service (the paid subscription is ad-free). According to Quartz, advertising on the free tier service makes up $0.22 billion of the company’s yearly revenue.