The News: On Monday last week on its “Stream On” event for its creators and partners, Spotify has announced a major expansion in 85 new markets including Bangladesh, and a new advertising marketplace called “Spotify Audience Network” combining all of the audio streaming giant's music and podcast advertisement inventory in one place.
Get the details:
- The company says the launch is likely to take place as early as the next few days.
- The expansion includes markets across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, making the music streaming service available to 1 billion potential listeners, according to the company.
- “Together these markets represent more than a billion people, with nearly half of them already using the internet,” said Alex Norstrom, Chief Premium Business Officer of Spotify. “Some of the places we’re going like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nigeria have the fastest growing internet populations in the world.”
- The entire global music catalog will be available in all of the 85 markets, while the entire podcast catalog will be available in the majority of them.
- The company said it will be working closely with local creators and partners in each market along with scaled language transitions and specialized payment methods to deliver a tailored experience that meets the needs of the listeners.
Strategic drivers behind the move:
- In February 2019 Spotify was launched in India and in February this year, it was launched in South Korea, the sixth-largest music market in the world.
- Expanding its territory in 85 markets will widen the gap between Spotify and its rivals, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
- There are certain strategic gains Spotify aims to achieve from this expansion. The company says, having more listeners on its platform creates more opportunities for artists and podcasters to make a living from their work that propels the audio industry forward.
- Spotify is available in 93 markets across the world. In the fourth quarter of 2020, Spotify reported having 345 million monthly active listeners.
Spotify audience network:
- In the “Stream On” event Spotify also announced Spotify Audience Network, an advertisement network through which advertisers will be able to run digital audio ads at scale, reaching millions of Spotify’s audience across its originals and exclusives.
- The company says this marketplace will be a “Game Changer” particularly for podcasters who want to make money from advertisements. It is still at the early stage of development and Spotify is hoping to share more details in the future.
