Getting Started

Add Legal Entity to an Ad Account

On some advertisements in certain markets, listeners now have the ability to click on the top right corner of the ad to see a description for “Why you’re seeing this ad.” The description includes the logo and advertiser name from the ad, as well as the legal entity of the ad account.

The legal entity is the legal name of the company that is advertising and funding the ad, and is in addition to the brand name reflected in the ad creative.

If you are doing business through an organization or company, this is your incorporated legal entity name. If you are doing business as an individual, this is your legal name.

Create a Spotify Account

If you already have a personal Spotify account, you can use that to sign up for Spotify Ad Studio. If not, create a free Spotify account with a business email. You can also use a team business email or alias to make sure all of your stakeholders are looped in.

Note: Best practice is to use an email address that will not be lost if/when someone leaves the business as this email will be tied to your business account and could result in loss of access.

Create multiple ad accounts

You can have multiple ad accounts under one Spotify Ad Studio account.

First, create a Spotify account and a Spotify Ad Studio account. You can then start adding new ad accounts under one Spotify Ad Studio account.

To do this, select ‘view all ad accounts’ on the right navigation bar and it will redirect you to the ad accounts page. From there, select +Ad accounts under the ‘Your ad’ accounts section to start the new account creation.

If you already have a Spotify Ad Studio account, go directly to the ad accounts page and select +Ad accounts.

Add multiple users to an ad account

You can collaborate with multiple team members in Ad Studio by adding or removing existing users to an Ad account. Set different levels of user permissions for the account based on the roles below:

Admin: Account admins can create, view, edit, and export campaigns. Admins are also able to edit account settings and payment details. The admin role is automatically assigned to the account creator and is the only access level that can add or remove other users as contributors or viewers to an Ad Studio account.
Contributor: Account contributors can create, view, edit, and export campaigns. Contributors can’t edit account settings and payment details.
Viewer: Viewers have read-only privileges on accounts and campaigns. Viewers can view and export campaigns but can’t create or edit campaigns or account settings.

To do this, first, create a Spotify account and a Spotify Ad Studio account. As the account admin, you can then add other Ad Studio account holders as contributors or viewers by selecting manage ad accounts from the right-hand navigation bar. From there, you can search for the users you’d like to add using their Spotify username. This can be found in User settings in the top right-hand corner.

As an admin, you also have the ability to change team members roles. Hover over the user name and ‘change role’ will appear and you can make the appropriate changes. If you are managing multiple ad accounts, you’ll need to add team members to each of them separately.

Please note: A user must first create their own Spotify Ad Studio account before they can be added as a contributor or viewer.

Switch between multiple ad accounts

You have the ability to access and switch between multiple ad accounts for which you are an admin, contributor, or viewer. To do this, select the ad account you would like to access from the left-hand navigation bar, which will allow you to view or manage multiple advertiser accounts without having to log in or out of each account.

Spotify Ad Studio overview

Ad Studio is Spotify’s self-serve ad manger. With Ad Studio you can:

Build an audio or video ad campaign in minutes
Launch a campaign with a minimum budget of 250.00 in your local currency
Reach listeners across music, podcasts, or both
Create a new audio ad from scratch
Forecast impression estimates based on your target audience
Analyze performance using campaign reports
Upload and save assets in the asset library

You’ll need a Spotify account to use Ad Studio. If you don’t have a Spotify account, click sign up to get started.

Pausing or resuming a campaign, ad set, or ad

You have the ability to pause or resume individual ad sets and ads within a campaign. This can be done by navigating to the ad set or ad tab within the dashboard and switching the delivery toggle for whichever ad set or ad you would like to pause or resume.

You can pause a campaign by pausing every ad set within the campaign.

Note: If you pause delivery of your ad set or all of the ads within the ad set, you’ll only be charged for the delivery you’ve accrued to that date.

Ad Creation

Video ads

Video ads on Spotify are served to ad-supported listeners on mobile or desktop when the Spotify app is in focus. Your video message is served to listeners during commercial ad breaks, and includes a clickable companion image and the call-to-action of your choice. If you don’t have an image for your ad, you can upload assets to the asset library by clicking upload asset or drag-and-drop the assets to the uploading area.

On desktop devices, your companion image is shown alongside your video ad. On mobile devices, it will be displayed on the lock screen if a listener locks their device while your video ad is playing.

Keep in mind that only one ad format, audio or video, can be selected for each ad set.

Specs to keep in mind

Video file

Length: 30 seconds or less
File types: MOV, MP4
Max file size: 500MB
Aspect ratio: 9×16 (portrait), 16×9 (landscape)

Volume: RMS normalized to -14 dBFS, Peak normalized to -0.2 dBFS

Resolution: HD 720×1280 or similar (portrait), HD 1280×720 or similar (landscape)

Additional Requirements:
-Must provide clickthrough URL (only one clickthrough URL can be used).
-No black bars (no letter-boxing, pillar-boxing, or window-boxing).
-No interlaced videos.
-Frame rate should be NTSC or PAL compatible.
-Video must be submitted without leaders (no slates, countdowns, etc.).
-All files must include sound – no silent videos will be accepted.

Companion image

Dimensions: Square, at least 640 x 640 pixels
File type: JPEG or PNG

Logo Image

Aspect Ratio: 1×1
Dimensions: 640×640
File type: JPEG, .PNG

Tagline
40 characters maximum

Clickthrough URL
URLs should direct to HTTPS destinations only. Please use only one destination URL.

Using audio creative tools

Ads can be created by the advertiser or with our free creative tools. All you need to do is tell us what you want your ad to say and pick some background music. Then, we’ll work with a voice actor to produce your audio ad free of charge.* Here’s how.

When you get to the create new ad step for an ad set in which you have selected the audio format, click the help me create one option.
Name your voiceover, type your script, and add any instructions you have for the voice actor. Instructions could be anything from pausing after a certain word to explaining specific pronunciations. See tips for creating a great audio ad here.
Select the language you want your ad in.
Select the voice profile of the voice actor.
If you choose to have background music, select one from our catalogue recorded by independent artists. Or, upload your own if you have more specific background music needs, like adding in your own sound effects. You can only upload one background track per ad and we’ll mix it against the voiceover for you.
Submit the request.
After requesting a voiceover, you’ll get a notification within 48 hours that your ad has been recorded and is ready to be reviewed. Listen to it within the Ad Studio UI and approve it, reject it, or choose to make revisions. You can use one voiceover option per ad. Your final asset will also be saved in the asset library.
To make changes, choose revise from the dropdown menu, prompting a window to appear that will ask whether you want to make changes to your voiceover clip — like giving new direction on tone or emphasis — or your background music & mixing.
Pick background music & mixing to launch our audio revision tools. For more details on how to use the audio revision tools see revising your audio ad.

If you need help scripting your ad, here are some best practices to help get you started.

The standard turnaround for an ad to be approved is usually 24-48 hours and includes any audio ad requests using our free audio creative tools.

*Subject to change

Setting a call-to-action

Clickable calls-to-action (CTA) are available for audio and video ads.

CTA cards automatically accompany campaigns using the Podcast Streams objective.

“Learn more” is the default CTA for each ad you create in Ad Studio. This CTA is localized into your audience’s preferred language.

You may also choose from the following calls-to-action:

Apply now
Book now
Buy now
Buy tickets
Click now
Download
Find stores
Get coupon
Get info
Learn more
Listen now
More info
Pre-save
Save now
Share
Shop now
Sign up
Visit profile
Visit site

Once you select your call-to-action, you’ll need to enter a clickthrough URL. This is the link that users will visit when they tap or click on your image or call-to-action button.

Note: Spotify Ad Studio doesn’t support URLs with special characters. As an alternative, we recommend creating a shortened or encoded version of the URL with a site like bitly.com or urlencoder.org.

Setting your goal, bid cap, and pacing

Audio and video ads from Spotify Ad Studio are priced through an ad auction. When it’s a listener’s turn to hear or see an ad, Spotify auctions the ad space and advertisers compete to “win” the impression.

When setting up a new ad set in Ad Studio, you’ll be asked to select your goal and bid cap. Along with your target audience and pacing, these inputs will help determine which ad impressions you win.

When selecting a goal, you can choose from four goals depending on how you’d like your ad to be delivered:

Impression delivery: We’ll aim to deliver as many impressions as possible to your target audience. This goal is best for advertisers who want to keep their brand or product top of mind and build consideration.
Reach: We’ll aim to reach as many unique listeners as possible with your message. This goal is best for advertisers who want to build awareness across a wide audience.
Clicks: We’ll aim to optimize for clicks and drive listeners to an advertiser-specified URL. This goal helps advertisers create an auction strategy that prioritizes users who are more likely to click on an ad. Any clicks generated by CTA cards will be rolled up into the existing audio format reporting column.
Video views: We’ll aim to deliver as many 3-second video views as possible, optimizing delivery to reach people likely to watch and engage with your ad. This objective helps you reach your audience with Opt-in Video and drive consideration for your brand messaging.
Podcast Streams: We’ll optimize to drive more 30-second streams of your podcasts. Optimizing delivery of your ad to reach people likely to listen or watch your podcast content. This goal is best for advertisers who want to promote a podcast to potential new listeners.

A bid cap is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay per 1000 impressions.

When setting your bid cap, you’ll see a suggested bid range based on your objective and target audience. When you do win an impression, you’ll only be charged the price necessary to win the auction, and you’ll never pay more than your bid cap. Your bid cap can be adjusted at any time.

For more information on bid cap management, see Managing your bid.

Ad Delivery Pacing

Set your pacing to deliver your ads throughout the schedule of your ad set with Standard pacing, or use accelerated pacing to deliver your ads quickly as possible.

Standard (recommended)
Deliver ads throughout your selected schedule.
Accelerated
Deliver ads as quickly as possible. Delivery stops when daily or lifetime budget is spent

For time-sensitive campaigns, select the accelerated pacing option to deliver ads at a faster pace than standard pacing.

Note: Accelerated pacing may exhaust your ad set’s budget before the end of the day.

Podcast ad delivery

Podcast ads on Ad Studio are delivered through Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI), Spotify’s own ad technology. With SAI, Spotify can record an ad impression in real time, as soon as the ad starts playing, rather than when it is downloaded. This allows advertisers to understand confirmed ad impressions and unlocks first-party insights into audience, reach, frequency, and clicks.

In order for your ad to serve in podcasts, be sure to select ‘automatic placement’ when creating your ad set.

Creating and saving drafts

When creating a new campaign, you can save a draft if you choose to exit out of the campaign creation process at any point. All of your drafts will be saved in the drafts section within the dashboard view.

Ad review

When you submit your ad, it will be routed to our team for review. In the event that your ad is not approved, you’ll be able to make edits and, if necessary, resubmit your ad for approval.

Ad not approved? Some common reasons why.

Ads overview

Spotify Ad Studio lets you create audio or video ads of 30 seconds or less. You can reach listeners across both music and podcasts.

Ads in music are seen and heard by users of the ad-supported Spotify app during ad breaks between songs.

Ads in podcasts are heard by users of the ad-supported and Spotify Premium apps during ad breaks in podcast episodes.

To create a new campaign, click new campaign or create new campaign in the top-left corner.

Campaigns can contain one or more ad sets, and each ad set can contain a collection of ads.

Choose where to place your ads

Each ad set can be placed in either music or podcasts. Ads in music reach ad-supported listeners on Spotify, in ad breaks between songs. Audio and video formats are available for ads in music. Ads in podcasts reach ad-supported and Premium listeners on Spotify and across our wider network off Spotify. All ads in podcasts are audio; video ads are not available in podcasts at this time.

Note: Advertisers can either select ‘automatic placement’ (both music and podcast ad placements) or ‘music only’. Advertising on podcasts only is not available at this time.

Setting a custom frequency cap

To maintain a quality listener experience, each user will receive the ads within your ad set no more than 5 times each day by default.

You also have the option to set the following custom frequency cap at the ad set level:

Daily: Daily frequency cap between 1 – 5 impressions max per 1 day per listener
Weekly: Weekly frequency cap between 1 – 35 impression max per 1 week per listener
Monthly: Monthly frequency cap between 1 – 50 impressions max per 1 month per listener

For example, if you apply a daily frequency cap of 3 per day for an ad set with 5 ads within it, a listener will receive those 5 ads within the ad set a collective maximum of 3 times per day in total. If you do not set a custom cap for your ad set, the ads within your ad set will still have a default cap of 5 impressions max per 1 day for each individual listener.

Please note that setting a low daily, weekly, or monthly frequency cap may reduce your budget delivery likelihood.

Podcast ad delivery

Creating and saving drafts

Ad review

When you submit your ad, it will be routed to our team for review. In the event that your ad is not approved, you’ll be able to make edits and, if necessary, resubmit your ad for approval.

Ad not approved? Some common reasons why.

Ads overview

Spotify Ad Studio lets you create audio or video ads of 30 seconds or less. You can reach listeners across both music and podcasts.

Ads in music are seen and heard by users of the ad-supported Spotify app during ad breaks between songs.

Ads in podcasts are heard by users of the ad-supported and Spotify Premium apps during ad breaks in podcast episodes.

To create a new campaign, click new campaign or create new campaign in the top-left corner.

Campaigns can contain one or more ad sets, and each ad set can contain a collection of ads.

Choose where to place your ads

Note: Advertisers can either select ‘automatic placement’ (both music and podcast ad placements) or ‘music only’. Advertising on podcasts only is not available at this time.

Setting a custom frequency cap

To maintain a quality listener experience, each user will receive the ads within your ad set no more than 5 times each day by default.

You also have the option to set the following custom frequency cap at the ad set level:

Daily: Daily frequency cap between 1 – 5 impressions max per 1 day per listener
Weekly: Weekly frequency cap between 1 – 35 impression max per 1 week per listener
Monthly: Monthly frequency cap between 1 – 50 impressions max per 1 month per listener

Please note that setting a low daily, weekly, or monthly frequency cap may reduce your budget delivery likelihood.

Audio ads

Audio ads are 30 seconds or less with a clickable companion image shown for the duration of the ad. If you already have a pre-produced audio ad, you can simply upload it directly to Ad Studio from your computer by selecting Upload file or from Asset library by selecting Add from library. If you don’t have an audio ad, our free creative tools can help you make one from scratch.

You can find audio requirements for your voiceover and tips for making a great audio ad here.

Keep in mind that only one ad format, audio or video, can be selected for each ad set.

Specs to keep in mind

*Audio file *

Length: 30 seconds or less
File type: MP3, .OGG, or WAV format
File size: 1MB

Sample rate: 44.1kHz
Audio with the wrong sample rate runs the risk of playing at the wrong speed.

Bit rate: 192kbps
Important for good-quality audio. Think of bit depth like the resolution of a digital photograph.

Stereo: If your ad has music or sound effects (SFX), it will likely sound crowded in mono. Most music tracks are stereo, and bouncing to a mono file will flatten any spatial mixing on the track. Bouncing in stereo also allows you to place different components of the ad (music, SFX, VO) in different parts of the sound field for more engaging audio.

Overall loudness: -16 LUFS.
Integrated average loudness of -16 LUFS (+/- 1.5 LUFS) and a True Peak limit of -2.0 dBTP. This ensures the ad volume is consistent with content and throughout the ad itself. If listeners feel the need to adjust their volume for an ad, they’re more likely to skip or feel interrupted. Note: The True Peak limit is a maximum and not a number to necessarily reach. As long as the integrated loudness averages -16 LUFS (+/- 1.5 LUFS) and the TPL is equal to or less than -2.0 dB, the ad meets our spec.

1x Companion Image

Aspect Ratio: 1×1
Dimensions: 640×640
File type: JPEG, .PNG

1x Logo Image

Aspect Ratio: 1×1
Dimensions: 640×640
File type: JPEG, .PNG

1x Canvas Visual

– Upload a full-screen image or short looping visual, which may appear with your audio ad while the Spotify mobile app is in focus. Learn more about Canvas here.

– Ratio: 9×16

– Height: At least 720px

– Video length (optional): 3-8 seconds

– File format: JPG, .PNG, .MP4 or .MOV

Tagline
40 characters maximum

Clickthrough URL
URLs should direct to HTTPS destinations only. Please use only one destination URL.

Revising your audio ad

Need to make changes to the audio ad you created using the free voiceover tool? Our audio revision tools make it easy to quickly edit your ad in the Ad Studio UI. Here’s how it works:

After requesting a voiceover, you’ll get a notification within 48 hours that your ad has been recorded and is ready to be reviewed. Listen to it within the Ad Studio UI and approve it, reject it, or choose to make revisions.
To make changes, choose revise from the dropdown menu, prompting a window to appear that will ask whether you want to make changes to your voiceover clip — like giving new direction on tone or emphasis — or your background music & mixing.
Pick background music & mixing to launch our audio revision tools.

To add a new background track:

Delete your current background track.
Select choose from library to pick another licensed track, or you can upload your own.
Preview the new background track by pressing the play button.

To adjust the timing of your background music:

Drag the pink slider across the music clip from side to side. The left side of your pink slider will determine the start time of your selected background music and the right side determines the end.
To ensure your ad plays for a full 30 seconds, background duration is automatically selected so your background music plays for 30 seconds regardless of the length of your voiceover. If you want the background music to be the same length as your voiceover, which may be less than 30 seconds, uncheck the box.

To adjust the timing of your voiceover:

To change when the voiceover starts, drag the blue slider from left to right, aligning it with the pink slider to coincide with your background music.
You can also edit the voiceover’s start time by inputting a numerical start time in seconds.

To adjust the volume of your background music:

Toggle the volume slider from left to right to increase or decrease the volume of your music.

To preview your remixed audio ad:

Hit the play button next to auto mix to combine your revisions and listen to your mixed audio ad.

Setting your budget

You have the ability to set an average daily budget or a lifetime budget.

Average daily budget enables you to set a target amount you want to spend each day. The minimum you can set is $15.

The average daily budget is a target amount, which means on some days you might spend up to 2x the average daily budget, and on others you’ll spend less. The most you’ll spend each calendar month is 30.4x your average daily budget.

With an average daily budget, you have the ability to set a start and end date, or you can schedule the budget to run without end dates to enable always-on buying. We recommend running an average daily budget without end dates in order to drive more consistent demand and benefit from continuous learnings.

With a lifetime budget, you can set a maximum amount to spend whenever opportunities appear until the budget runs out or the schedule ends. The minimum lifetime budget you can set is roughly the equivalent of 250.00 USD in your local currency.

Lifetime budgets must be set up with a specific start and end date.

By default, ad sets start and end at midnight on the dates selected. To start or end your ad set at a specific time, use the time fields when setting your schedule and budget to choose your preferred times. If the ads within the ad set are approved after the start date, the ad set will start once at least one ad is approved. All start and end times will be set in the local time zone you’re in when building your ad set.

For ad sets using daily budgets, daily and monthly budget maximums are based on UTC time zones.

Asset library in Ad Studio

When creating an ad in Ad Studio, you can upload and save your assets in the asset library, which allows you to upload new files, download an asset, and preview uploaded assets. Once you have assets uploaded, you can search by name or filter by type (image, audio, video). You can also upload the assets separately from the ad creation process, which allows you to prepare your assets in advance.

All users who have access to the Ad Studio account can access the asset library from the Ad Studio homepage by selecting Asset Library. Account admins and contributors can collaborate in the asset library by adding and managing the assets under one ad account.

You can upload a new asset to the asset library by clicking Upload asset or by drag-and-dropping the file into the uploading area. All assets uploaded into the asset library must meet the requirements included in Ad Creation on Ad Studio.

Audio ads in podcasts

Audio ads in podcasts are 30 seconds or less. Audio ads that are delivered in podcasts on Spotify include your brand or business’ name, companion image, a short tagline, and clickable call-to-action. There is no companion image, tagline, or clickable call-to-action for ads delivered in podcasts outside of the Spotify platform. While they hear your ad off-Spotify, users will see the podcast show cover art.

Spotify will produce your podcast ad creative, with your approval, at no additional charge*. If you don’t have an image for your ad, you can select a companion image we’ve created for you.

To create a new ad, choose Create a new one in the Ad page. You’ll be asked to fill out a brief, answering questions like:

What are you promoting?
Who are you trying to reach?
What’s your desired tone?
What’s the main goal of your ad?
What do you want listeners to do after the ad?
Any additional details, talking points, or sample scripts.

From there, we’ll write the script and send you a draft to review within 2 business days. You can revise or approve the script, and then we’ll record your 30-second ad with a professional voiceover artist.

*Subject to change

If you already have a pre-produced audio ad, you can simply upload it directly to Ad Studio from your computer by selecting Upload file or from Asset library by selecting Add from library.

You can find audio requirements for your voiceover and tips for making a great audio ad for podcasts here.

Specs to keep in mind

Audio file

Length: 30 seconds or less File types: WAV, MP3, OGG Max file size: 1MB Audio: WAV – 16-bit 44.1 kHz MP3, at least 192 kbps RMS normalized to 14 dBFS Peak normalized to -0.2 dBFS

Companion image

Dimensions: Square, at least 640 x 640 pixels File type: JPEG or PNG Max file size: 200KB

Logo image (optional)

Dimensions: Square, at least 112×112 File type: JPEG or PNG Max file size: 200KB

Background tracks

When creating your ad in Ad Studio, you can select from the following selection to add as background tracks:

• A Moment Captured • A New Day • Anthemic Rhythm • Atmospheric Guitars • Autumn Nights • Beach House Hits • Bright Easy Guitars • Building Pleasant Dance • Chill Ambient Groove • Colorful Dreams • Daydreaming • Electric Summer Sounds • Energetic Pop Drive • Heavy Synth Drums • Holiday Swing • Inspirational Rock • Joyful Beach Rock • Jungle Vibes • Love Notes • Mellow Moods • Motivating Piano Claps • Positive Electronic Rhythms • Positive Folk Tune • Pulsing Sonic Trip • Road to Nashville • Rock Steady • Sci-Fi Retro Pop • Serenity Sounds • Strings of my Heart • Summer Sway • Sway To The Beat • Triumphant Rock • Upbeat Pop • Vivid House Party

Automatic placement

Choose automatic placement to run ads in music and podcasts. Automatic placement helps you reach relevant listeners for your ads, wherever they are listening on Spotify.

Ads in music reach ad-supported listeners on Spotify, in ad breaks between songs. Ads in podcasts reach ad-supported and Premium listeners on Spotify.

Audio and video formats are available for ads in music and podcasts.

If you only wish your ads to run in music streams, select music only.

Targeting

Location targeting

Our location targeting leverages IP address to determine which users are eligible for targeting, based on the IP address(es) provided in an ad request. You can target your ad sets by the following locations depending on your account country:

United States: Target by country, state, city, postal code, or DMA (A Designated Market Area region is a group of cities that form a broader metropolitan area. For example, the Los Angeles DMA includes the city of Los Angeles as well as the cities and counties that surround it.)
United Kingdom: Target by country, city, postal code
Canada: Target by country, city, postal code
Australia: Target by country, state, city, postal code
New Zealand: Target by country, region, city
Brazil: Target by country, region, city
Mexico: Target by country, region, city, postal code
Spain: Target by country, region, city, postal code
Germany: Target by country, city, postal code
France: Target by country, city, postal code
India: Target by country, city, and postal code
Italy: Target by country, city, postal code
Denmark: Target by country, city, postal code
Finland: Target by country, city, postal code
Netherlands: Target by country, city, postal code
Norway: Target by country, city, postal code
Singapore: Target by country, city
Sweden: Target by country, city, postal code
Austria: Target by country, city
Barbados: Target by country, city
Belize: Target by country, city
Ghana: Target by country, city
Guyana: Target by country, city
Jamaica: Target by country, city
Kenya: Target by country, city
Tanzania: Target by country, city
Trinidad & Tobago: Target by country, city
Uganda: Target by country, city

Content controls

For ads in podcasts, Ad Studio offers two types of content controls to help you customize your podcast placement environment:

Exclude sensitive topics: Choose to exclude certain topics that may not be well suited to your brand. Use sensitive topic filters (US only) Learn more about how Spotify is building a safe space for advertisers .
Target episode topics: Choose the relevant podcast episode topics you want your ad to be placed with. Keep in mind that the fewer topics are selected, the smaller your addressable audience will become.

Podcast content is categorized using episode-level podcast transcription technology, powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, to move beyond keywords to understand sentiment, language, and context.

Music genres targeting

Music genre targeting allows you to deliver your message immediately after a user has listened to a song of a specific genre. You can select multiple genres to expand your potential audience.

Available genres:

Alternative
Blues
Christian
Classical
Country
Easy Listening
EDM
Electronica
Folk
Funk
Hip Hop
Holiday
House
Indie Rock
Jazz
Latin
Metal
New Age
Pop
Punk
Reggae
RnB
Rock
Soundtrack
Spoken Audio
Traditional

These genres are specific to music inventory. For contextual targeting in podcasts, use content controls.

Language targeting

Language targeting allows you to target people based on their Spotify account language. You can target 1 language per ad set.

Languages available: EN, FR, ES, IT, PT and DE.

Note: When you use language targeting, the language used in the creative must match the language that you target. Otherwise, it will be rejected.

Fan bases targeting

Fan bases targeting allows you to use Spotify’s proprietary streaming data to target known fans of an artist you’re promoting or fans of other artists. Here’s how:

To identify fans of an artist, we analyze recent listening behavior along with other identifiers such as playlist adds and follows.
If you’re a music advertiser who is promoting an artist or event, you can target fans of the specific artist you’re promoting or fans of other artists.
Select artist(s) in the Ad Studio interface under the fans header as you’re defining your target audience.
We’ll deliver your targeted message to fans of the artist(s) you selected.
Note: When running a campaign to promote an artist or a music event (e.g. concert or festival), your ad creative can only mention and feature the specific artist or event you are promoting.
A label can use an artist’s track, image, and name in an ad promoting that artist.
A promoter can use an artist’s track, image, and name in an ad promoting an event where that artist is billed as a performer.

Be sure to only feature the specific artist(s) you’re promoting in your ad. We won’t be able to approve ads that feature or mention other artists.

Fan bases targeting is not available for ads in podcasts.

Contextual Playlists

Contextual Playlist targeting allows you to reach people who are listening to music tailored to specific activities, moments, and moods.

How we do it:

We identify user-curated and Spotify-curated playlists aligned with popular activities and moments.
We deliver targeted messages to users who are listening to playlists in each category. You can select multiple contextual playlists to expand your potential audience.

Available real-time contexts:

Chill
Cooking
Dinner
Focus
Gaming
Holidays
Party
Study
Travel
Workout

These Contextual Playlist categories are specific to music inventory. For contextual targeting in podcasts, use content controls.

Targeting options

Reach the right audience with Spotify Ad Studio’s effective targeting options. A range of audience targeting options are available depending on your placement selection.

Available for all placements:

Age, gender,location,, language and platform: Connect with your target audiences across platforms with Spotify’s first-party age, gender, language and location data.
Interest: Reach highly relevant audiences based on their podcast, playlist, and platform preferences.

Available for ads in music (one per ad set):

Contextual Playlists: Reach listeners in specific moments throughout their day via themed music playlists.
Music Genres: Deliver your message immediately after a user has listened to a specific genre.
Fan Bases: Target known fans of an artist you’re promoting or fans of other artists (available when promoting an artist or music event).

Available for ads in podcasts:

Content controls: Build a placement environment best suited to your message by targeting relevant episode content and excluding topics that don’t align with your brand.

For ad sets with automatic placement, if you select an audience segment only available for ads in music, all audiences in podcast ads will be eligible for targeting by default, unless you additionally select audience segments that apply to podcast ads. If you select episode topics, all audiences in music ads will be eligible for targeting by default.

Interest targeting

Interest targeting allows you to reach relevant audiences based on the activities and topics they’re passionate about. Interest categories are informed by users’ recent streaming behavior, including their podcast, playlist and platform preferences. You can select multiple interest categories to expand your potential audience.

Available interest categories:

Books: People who listen to books & literature podcasts
Business: People who listen to business podcasts
Comedy: People who listen to comedy-related content (including albums and podcasts)
Commuting: People who listen to commute-related playlists
Cooking: People who listen to cooking-related playlists
Culture & Society: People who listen to culture & society podcasts
DIY Hobbies & Crafts: People who listen to hobbies & crafts podcasts
Education: People who listen to education podcasts on Spotify
Health & Lifestyle: People who listen to lifestyle & health podcasts
History: People who listen to history podcasts
Fitness: People who listen to fitness-related playlists in categories such as workout, running, biking, and weightlifting
Gaming: People who listen to Spotify on gaming consoles or listening to gaming-related playlists
In-car listening: People who listen to Spotify in the car (Ads are targeted to users who recently listened to Spotify in the car, but they aren’t served while users stream in the car)
Love & Dating: People who listen to love, dating, & relationship podcasts
News: People who listen to news & politics podcasts
Parenting: People who listen to kids’ playlists, children’s music, and kids & family podcasts
Partying: People who listen to party-related playlists
Podcasts: People who listen to podcasts (Ads are targeted to users who recently listened to podcasts, but they aren’t served during podcasts)
Running: People who listen to running-related playlists
Science & Medicine: People who listen to life sciences & medicine podcasts
Sports & Recreation: People who listen to sports, sports news, & recreation podcasts
Studying or focusing: People who listen to study- or focus-related playlists
Tech: People who listen to technology podcasts or stream via emerging platforms like smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming sticks
Theater: People who listen to Broadway-related playlists
Travel: People who listen to travel-related playlists
TV & Film: People who listen to TV & film podcasts

Reporting

Reporting Metrics Glossary

Reporting can be accessed at the ad set level within the report tab. To access this tab, simply hover over the name of the ad set and select see overview or view report, after which you will be able to access the insights and reporting for the ad set within the report, details, and ads tabs.

Your ad set report includes a summary of delivery, performance, and audience metrics for each ad set.

Overview

Impressions: The total number of ads within the ad set served.

Delivery

Reach: The number of unique people who heard your ads within the ad set.
Frequency: The average number of times each person heard your ads within the ad set.

Auction

CPM: Cost per 1000 impressions. Updates hourly based on the budget and impressions delivered so far.
Bid cap: The maximum bid for your ad set, as inputted during campaign setup or the most recent edit to your ad set.
Bidding goal: The goal for your ad set, as selected during campaign setup or the most recent edit to your ad set.

Performance

Completion rate: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that were played to the end.
Clicks: The number of times your ads within the ad set were clicked
CTR (Click-through rate): The percentage of ads within the ad set served that were clicked
Ad played to 25%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that played at least 25% of way through.
Ad played to 50%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that played at least 50% of way through.
Ad played to 75%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that played at least 75% of way through.
Ad played to 100%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that were played to the end. (see also: Completion rate)
Video views: The number of times a video ad was shown to the intended audience and played for at least 3 seconds.*
Video expands: The number of times someone tapped your ad to expand it.*
Video expand rate: The number of ad expands divided by the number of impressions.*

Podcast Streams Performance

Streams: The number of times users played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad.
Listeners: The number of unique users who played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad.
New Listeners: The number of unique users who played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad and have not streamed the show in the last 28 days.
Listener Conversion Rate: The percentage of unique listeners exposed to your ad who played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad.

Please note that users muting or closing the app may impact audio completion rates. Podcast completion rates account for these events, and any seek events such as skipping, scrubbing, fast-forwarding, etc.

Streaming Conversion Metrics

Available only for artist and podcast promotion campaigns. These metrics show you how listeners are responding to your ad so that you can understand how advertising impacts the listener journey on Spotify.

Listener conversion rate: The percentage of users who listened to the artist after seeing or hearing an ad served by the campaign (%)
Intent Rate: The rate at which listeners indicated an intent to stream the artist again in the future (%)
New listener conversion rate: The total number of users who listened to the artist for the first time in at least a month after seeing or hearing the ad (#)
New Listeners: The total number of streams from new listeners who saw/heard the ad (#)
New Listeners Conversion Rate: The percentage of users who listened to the artist for the first time in at least a month after seeing or hearing the ad (%)
Streams: The total number of streams from listeners who saw/heard the ad (#)
Average streams per listener: The average number of times each listener streamed the artist after seeing/hearing the ad (#)
Average streams per new listener: The average number of times each new listener streamed the artist after seeing/hearing the ad (#)
New Listeners: The number of users who listened to the artist after hearing/seeing an ad (#)

*Metrics available for video views objective campaigns only.

Ads reporting

Spotify Ads reporting allows you to access the information you need to manage and optimize your campaigns as well as track historical performance.

There are three reporting destinations within Ad Studio:

Reports manager, where you can create, customize, export and schedule your ad performance reports;
Campaign table that provides a high-level overview of campaign statuses and delivery results;
Interactive dashboard that provides an overview of ad-set and ad performance, delivery trends as well as audience insights.

For all the reporting surfaces, metrics should start populating 24 hours after the ad set has started serving. These metrics will then refresh every few hours daily.

How to schedule a report

How to schedule a .csv report:

Go to Reports and select metrics and dimensions you want to see in your report;
Name the report and define the frequency (daily/weekly/monthly);
Define the period during which you want to receive this report.

Note: scheduled reports can only be sent to the email address associated with your Ad Studio account.

Reports in Ad Studio (beta)

In the Reports section of Ad Studio, you can create, customize, manage, export and schedule your performance reports.

Please consult the following articles for more information:

How to create a new report

To create a new report, go to the Reports section of Ad Studio, select Create report and choose the metrics and dimensions you want to see.

Filters available:

Campaign name
Campaign status
Lookback window

Dimensions available:

Campaign
- Campaign name
- Campaign status
- Objective
Ad set
- Ad set name
- Ad set status
- Ad set lifetime budget
- Ad set daily budget
Ad
- Ad name
Time
- By day

Metrics available:

Performance
- Impressions on Spotify
- Impressions off Spotify
- Frequency
- Reach
- Clicks
- Clickthrough Rate
- Spend
- CPM
- Completion Rate
- Starts
- Ad played to: 25%
- Ad played to: 50%
- Ad played to: 75%
- Ad played to: 100%
- Ad completes (skippable ads)
- Reach of ad completes (skippable ads)
- Frequency of ad completes (skippable ads)
- CPCL (skippable ads)
- Video Views
- Expands
- Expand Rate
Artist results
- Listeners
- New listeners
- Intent rate
- New listener conversion rate
- Listener conversion rate
- Average streams per listener
- Average streams per new listener

Learn more about campaign performance metrics in the Glossary.

After selecting the metrics and dimensions, click Next to name your report and define the frequency. From here, you can export the report or schedule it to be delivered daily/weekly/monthly to your email address.

Manage existing reports

All the reports, both created for export and scheduled, are saved in the Reports section within Ad Studio. You can delete the reports that you no longer need from the list. While in Beta, reports editing is not available.

How to export a report

How to export a report in the .csv format:

Go to Reports and select metrics and dimensions you want to see in your report
Name the report
Select Export.

Note that .csv is the only format available for export.

Manage existing reports

How to export a report

How to export a report in the .csv format:

Go to Reports and select metrics and dimensions you want to see in your report
Name the report
Select Export.

Note that .csv is the only format available for export.

Reporting in the campaign table

You can see a holistic overview of all of your campaigns, ad sets, and ads in the campaign table view (Ad Studio home page). In order to view ad set and ad-level reporting dashboard, you must select a campaign first, then navigate to the ad set or ad tab.

To customize the columns shown in the dashboard, click the gear icon. From there, you can add or remove metrics from the dashboard table view.

Filtering data by date is currently unavailable. All metrics in the campaign table and in saved filters reflect lifetime data only.

The pacing metric shown in the dashboard represents how your ad set budget is tracking to deliver within your ad set schedule. This percentage is calculated by dividing the percentage of remaining days in your ad set by the percentage of remaining budget in your ad set. For example, if you are 5 days through a 10 day ad set (50% remaining days) and have spent $5,000 of a $10,000 budget (50% remaining budget), then you are pacing at 100%.

The reach & frequency metrics shown in the dashboard are unique and deduplicated for each campaign with multiple ad sets, and ad sets with multiple ads. For example, if one listener hears multiple ads within the same ad set, this listener would only count once in the reach metric for both the campaign and the ad set. Reach and frequency metrics are only available for ads delivered on Spotify.

Listed below are the actions you can take and the details you can see from the dashboard view:

Campaigns:
- Edit the campaign
- See the status of the campaign
- See if there are ad sets within the campaign that require attention
- Schedule an email report
Ad Sets:
- Duplicate the ad set within the same campaign
- Edit the ad set
- Access detailed overview and reporting for the ad set
- Start or stop delivery of the ad set
- See the status of the ad set
- See the ad format selected for the ad set
- Schedule an email report
Ads:
- Duplicate the ad within the same ad set
- Edit the ad
- See details of the ad
- Start or stop delivery of the ad
- See the status of the ad
- See the ad format
- Schedule an email report

Note: Filtering within the dashboard view can support a single campaign, ad set, or ad at a time. This is denoted by the 1x at the top of the dashboard within each tab and can be cleared by selecting the X.

Audience insights metrics

Audience insights metrics can be accessed at the ad set level within the ad-set reporting dashboard. To access this tab, go to the campaign table, select a campaign and then hover over the name of the ad set and select see overview, after which you will be able to access the insights and reporting for the ad set within the report, details, and ad tabs.

Your audience metrics report includes a summary of impressions, clicks and CTRs delivered for each ad set.

Age: How your ads within the ad set were served to different age groups.
Gender: How your ads within the ad set were served to different genders.
Genre: How your ads within the ad set were served to users listening to different music genres. Reflects the genre a user listened to before your ads were served. Only available for ads placed in music.
Platform: How your ads within the ad set served to users listening on different platforms.

Please note: Audience insights metrics are only available at the ad set level. Audience metrics are not currently available at the campaign or ad level.

Note that your ad set targeting may affect the audience metrics you see. For example:

If you target users ages 18 – 34, you won’t see any ads within the ad set served outside of that age group.
If you target Pop music only, you’ll only see ads within the ad set served to users who were listening to a song in the pop genre before they heard your ads.

If your targeting parameters are broad, you’ll see a variety of age groups, genders, genres, and platforms within the audience metrics. For example:

If you do not apply any age targeting, you’ll see how your ads within the ad set served across age groups.
If you do not apply any gender targeting, you’ll see how your ads within the ad set served to men and women.
If you do not apply any genre targeting, you’ll see how your ads within the ad set served across a variety of genres.
If you do not apply any platform targeting, you’ll see how your ads within the ad set served across all platforms.

These metrics help provide information about the audience your campaign has reached within each ad set. You don’t need to take immediate action based on these metrics, but once your ad sets have completed, you can use them to build a targeting strategy for your next campaign.

Third-party Reporting Partners

Thanks to the integration with Spotify Ads API, third-party reporting & analytics partners can access Ad Studio campaign reporting in real time. Our partners include platforms like Datorama, Funnel.IO, Clarisights, ReportGarden, Whatagraph, Supermetrics, TapClicks and many more. To confirm whether your partner of choice supports Spotify, please reach out to them directly. Partners that are not yet integrated, can access our API on the Developer portal .

Campaign Managment

Edit or stop an ad campaign

You have the ability to edit your campaigns, ad sets, and ads in the dashboard view. To do this simply hover over the name of the campaign, ad set, or ad that you want to edit and select edit.

You can edit the following components of your live campaigns:

Campaign name

You can edit the following components of your live ad sets:

Ad set name
Targeting
Budget increases: You won’t be able to decrease budgets for live ad sets. You’ll need to stop the current ad set and create a new ad set in order to reduce budget.
Ad set length
Bid cap
Pause or resume ad set delivery

You can edit the following components of your live ads:

Ad name
Audio or video file
Companion image
Call-to-action button
Clickthrough URL

Stopping an ad campaign

To stop your ad campaign, go to the ad set level in your dashboard, hover over the ad set and click ‘view report’. Once you are in your ad set, click ‘more’ on the right hand side and then select ‘stop’.

Creating and saving drafts

Campaigns, ad sets, and ads

Your ads can be organized on three levels — campaigns, ad sets, and ads.

At the campaign level, you can select your objective.

You can choose one of four objectives to help you achieve your desired outcome:

Reach: Share your ads with as many people as possible to build awareness.
Impressions: Share your ads as often as possible to stay top of mind.
Clicks: Get more people to click on your ads to stay top of mind.
Video views: Reach listeners who have chosen to watch and engage with your video ad.

At the ad set level, you can identify which ad category you are promoting. If you are promoting an artist on Spotify, turn on artist promotion so you can track streaming conversions.

This is also where you can select your placement, ad format, targeting parameters, budget, schedule, goal, and bid cap. Your delivery goal will reflect your campaign objective. You can also see an overview of your estimated reach, frequency, and budget delivery likelihood.

At the ad level, you can either upload your audio or video creative or use our free audio creative tools and services to create an audio ad from scratch.

Campaigns can contain one or more ad sets, and ad sets can contain a collection of ads.

To create a new campaign with multiple ads and ad sets, navigate to the left hand sidebar and select create new.

To submit your campaign, navigate to the left hand sidebar and select Review and Publish. After reviewing your ad sets and ads, you may input your business address and payment method and select the Review and Submit button on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Managing your bid

You can edit your bid cap at any time, and your changes happen after you save. Go to your ad sets, then hover over ad set and choose Edit. You can also choose View report to see a detailed view of the ad set and monitor pacing and effective CPM, updated hourly.

If you find that your ad set isn’t spending budget as you expected, it may indicate that there is more competition for your target audience. There are a few adjustments you can try to help drive stronger delivery in the ad auction:

Increase your bid cap to allow for more aggressive bidding.
Extend your schedule to allow more time to deliver your budget.
Expand your audience to test if other audiences offer less competitive impressions.

If you notice that your effective CPM is very close to your bid cap, it may indicate that an increased bid cap could help you get more impressions within your target audience.

If you notice that your effective CPM is significantly lower than your bid cap, it may indicate that you may get results without spending your entire budget. Adjust your bid throughout your campaign as you test audiences and creatives to see what drives more efficient results.

Edits that require ad re-approval

Certain edits to your ad sets and ads require re-approval from the Ad Studio team before they go live. Once these edits to an ad or ad set are submitted, the current ad will be paused for 24-to 48-hours while it is reviewed. You’ll be notified by email once your ad is approved.

The following changes to your ad sets require re-approval from the Ad Studio team to comply with our advertising policy:

Age targeting
Location targeting (Please note that location targeting can only be changed within the same country)

The following changes to your ads require re-approval from the Ad Studio team to comply with our advertising policy:

Audio or video file
Companion image
Clickthrough URL

Duplicating Ad Sets and Ads

You can duplicate your existing ad sets and ads as follows:

Ad sets can be duplicated within the same campaign, including format, targeting, budget, and schedule details. This can be done by selecting duplicate from the ad sets tab or ad set overview page.
Ads can be duplicated within the same ad set, including the audio or video file, companion image, call-to-action, and click-through URL details. This can be done by selecting duplicate from the ads tab or ad overview page.
You can also copy the details from your existing ad sets and ads when creating new ones. These details can be copied from ad sets and ads across any of your campaigns. Do this by selecting copy from existing when creating a new ad set or ad.

To duplicate an existing ad set or ad, first select the specific campaign or ad set that you want to duplicate the new ad set or ad into. This is denoted by the 1x at the top of the dashboard within each tab.

Note: Spotify Ad Studio doesn’t currently support duplicating ad sets from other campaigns, ads from other ad sets, or entire campaigns. When selecting copy from existing, details can be copied from existing ad sets and ads across any of your Ad Studio campaigns.

Promoting Musique

Reporting Metrics Glossary

Reporting can be accessed at the ad set level within the report tab. To access this tab, simply hover over the name of the ad set and select see overview or view report, after which you will be able to access the insights and reporting for the ad set within the report, details, and ads tabs.

Your ad set report includes a summary of delivery, performance, and audience metrics for each ad set.

Overview

Impressions: The total number of ads within the ad set served.

Delivery

Reach: The number of unique people who heard your ads within the ad set.
Frequency: The average number of times each person heard your ads within the ad set.

Auction

CPM: Cost per 1000 impressions. Updates hourly based on the budget and impressions delivered so far.
Bid cap: The maximum bid for your ad set, as inputted during campaign setup or the most recent edit to your ad set.
Bidding goal: The goal for your ad set, as selected during campaign setup or the most recent edit to your ad set.

Performance

Completion rate: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that were played to the end.
Clicks: The number of times your ads within the ad set were clicked
CTR (Click-through rate): The percentage of ads within the ad set served that were clicked
Ad played to 25%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that played at least 25% of way through.
Ad played to 50%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that played at least 50% of way through.
Ad played to 75%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that played at least 75% of way through.
Ad played to 100%: The percentage of ads within the ad set served that were played to the end. (see also: Completion rate)
Video views: The number of times a video ad was shown to the intended audience and played for at least 3 seconds.*
Video expands: The number of times someone tapped your ad to expand it.*
Video expand rate: The number of ad expands divided by the number of impressions.*

Podcast Streams Performance

Streams: The number of times users played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad.
Listeners: The number of unique users who played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad.
New Listeners: The number of unique users who played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad and have not streamed the show in the last 28 days.
Listener Conversion Rate: The percentage of unique listeners exposed to your ad who played at least 30 seconds of the promoted show within 14 days of seeing your ad.

Please note that users muting or closing the app may impact audio completion rates. Podcast completion rates account for these events, and any seek events such as skipping, scrubbing, fast-forwarding, etc.

Streaming Conversion Metrics

Available only for artist and podcast promotion campaigns. These metrics show you how listeners are responding to your ad so that you can understand how advertising impacts the listener journey on Spotify.

Listener conversion rate: The percentage of users who listened to the artist after seeing or hearing an ad served by the campaign (%)
Intent Rate: The rate at which listeners indicated an intent to stream the artist again in the future (%)
New listener conversion rate: The total number of users who listened to the artist for the first time in at least a month after seeing or hearing the ad (#)
New Listeners: The total number of streams from new listeners who saw/heard the ad (#)
New Listeners Conversion Rate: The percentage of users who listened to the artist for the first time in at least a month after seeing or hearing the ad (%)
Streams: The total number of streams from listeners who saw/heard the ad (#)
Average streams per listener: The average number of times each listener streamed the artist after seeing/hearing the ad (#)
Average streams per new listener: The average number of times each new listener streamed the artist after seeing/hearing the ad (#)
New Listeners: The number of users who listened to the artist after hearing/seeing an ad (#)

*Metrics available for video views objective campaigns only.

Streaming Conversion Tracking for Artists

When building a campaign to promote an artist on Spotify, you should first declare your ad category on the Create New Ad Set page. Set your ad category to Media and Entertainment > Music. Then, under Artist on Spotify, select the toggle to turn on streaming conversion tracking to promote an artist on Spotify. In the Search Artists field, type in the name of the artist you’re promoting. This will enable you to track artist results (listeners, streams per listener, new listeners, streams per new listener) in the reporting for your ad set.

Population of metrics

Metrics should start populating 24-hours after the ad set has started. These metrics will then refresh every few hours on a daily basis.

Note: Best practice is to wait for the attribution window to end after the campaign to get the full results of your campaign.

Targeting new listeners

At this time, we do not offer the capability to target new listeners. As an alternative, consider reaching your recent fans via fan or genre targeting.

Promotion type

If you’re looking to promote an artist’s music on Spotify, and you either represent the artist team or the artist themselves, choose an artist’s music on Spotify. If you’re looking to promote a concert or artist merch on Spotify, and you either represent artist team, the artist, or a show where the artist is performing, choose a concert or artist merch.

Your ad campaign’s performance data can be accessed via your Ad Studio account. These metrics provide insight into who your ads have been served to and which users chose to listen to your ad in full. Check out our guide to understanding your campaign results for more on how to use these stats to help you make decisions about your ads.

Here’s what you’ll see:

Delivery

Ad listens: The total number of times your ads within the ad set was played in full. You only pay for completed listens, not total impressions.
Reach of ad listens: The total number of users who listened to your ads within the ad set in full.
Frequency of ad listens: The average number of times each user listened to your ads within the ad set in full.
Impressions: Total number of ads within the ad set served.
Reach: The number of people who heard your ads within the ad set.
Frequency: The average number of times each person heard your ads within the ad set.
Ad listen rate: The percentage of listens out of the total number of impressions within the ad set.
Clicks: Number of clicks to your ads within the ad set received.
CTR: The clickthrough rate of how many clicks your ads within the ad set received compared to how many people heard your ads within the ad set.

Artist results

Listeners: The number of people who streamed the artist after they heard the ads within the ad set in full.
Streams per listener: The average number of times each listener streamed the artist after hearing the ads within the ad set in full. Calculated as Streams from listeners / listeners.
Listener conversion rate: The percentage of people who streamed the artist after hearing the ads within the ad set in full. Calculated as Listeners / reach.
New listeners: The number of people who streamed the artist after hearing the ads within the ad set in full, who hadn’t listened to the artist in the pre-exposure window.
Streams per new listener: The average number of times each new listener streamed the artist after hearing the ads within the ad set in full. Calculated as Streams from new listeners / new listeners.
New listener conversion rate: The percentage of people who became new listeners, out of all the people who heard the ads within the ad set in full and hadn’t listened to the artist in the pre-exposure window. Calculated as New listeners / Reach – Existing listeners.
Intent rate: The percentage of listeners who took actions showing intent to stream the artist again in the future. Actions include saving the artist’s music by tapping the heart icon or adding it to a playlist. Calculated as Number of listeners who also saved or added to playlist / listeners.
Pre-exposure window: The 28 days before a person heard the ads within the ad set in full.
Conversion window: The 14 days after a person heard the ads within the ad set in full, where their actions are considered related to the campaign and are counted as a conversion.
Campaign window: The flight dates of the ad set, plus 14 days post-campaign. This is the full amount of time during which user actions are observed to calculate conversions.

Audience insights

Listeners and new listeners*: Compare the makeup of different audiences between people who listened to the ad in full (% of impressions) and those who streamed your music (% of listeners/new listeners). Looking at a specific demographic, if the percentage of listeners or new listeners is higher than the percentage of impressions, then you know that audience was particularly likely to stream your music after hearing your ads.

Here’s an example: let’s say you run an ad set for €1,000 that got 100 listeners. If 48% of impressions within the ad set were listened to in full by 18-24 year olds, that means €480 of your budget went to that age group. If you got 60% of your listeners from that demographic, that’s 60 listeners, or €8 per listener in this demographic. If 15% of impressions were listened to in full by 35-44 year olds and only 8% of listeners came from this demographic (€150 spent and 8 listeners), then that category cost €18.75 per listener. This means 18-24 year olds are your more cost-effective audience.

Average streams: See which audiences had the highest number of streams per listener and streams per new listener. For example, if you know male listeners streamed on average 50% more than female listeners, you might adjust your approach to target men at a higher rate.
Conversion rate: See which audiences were most likely to become listeners and new listeners. The audiences with the highest conversion rates are most likely to listen to your music.
Intent rate: Understand how audiences of different demographics took actions showing intent to stream the artist again in the future, like saving it or adding it to a playlist. The group with the highest intent rate was most likely to take these actions after hearing your ad in full and listening to your music.

Conversion window

The conversion window is the 14 days after a person heard the ad. The actions they take during this time are considered related to the campaign and are counted as conversions. The conversion window is fixed and can’t be changed.

Billing and Payment

Tax information requirements

Currently, Ad Studio is only open for tax registered advertisers. This means you must provide an accurate and valid VAT number (or a local equivalent) to run campaigns via Spotify Ad Studio.

Exception: In Canada and Spain, we support both tax-registered and non-tax-registered customers.

It means that Ad Studio advertisers in Canada and Spain are no longer required to provide a VAT number (or a local equivalent) when creating a new ad account. However, all B2B customers are still required to provide their VAT number (or a local equivalent). Otherwise, they will be recognized as consumers and local taxes will be applied to them.

Billing cycle

Your credit or debit card will be charged at the end of each month, or when your total ad spend across all your campaigns reaches a given billing threshold. There are a number of factors that determine when your credit card gets charged, such as current budget, payment history, and more.

As your campaigns progress, you can expect to see a longer duration between charges to minimize the number of bills you receive.

Note that when your credit card is charged has no impact on the delivery or pacing of your ads.

Depending on your monthly spend, you may be eligible to transition to invoice billing. To make a request, please fill out this form and our support team will review to confirm eligibility.

Redeeming ad credits

Ad credits must be redeemed during checkout in the ad creation step before the promo code’s expiry date. A given promo code can be used once per ad account. Only one promo code per account can be used at a time.

The Payments and Promo Code input section only appears when using the Create Campaign flow, it does not appear for other flows like duplicate ad set or adding an ad set to an existing campaign.

If a campaign’s budget is lower than the value of the ad credit, the remaining value will be applied to the following campaign’s bill.

At this time, ad credits are only available for customers using credit card payment. Agencies in Mexico and France are not eligible to redeem ad credits.

Billing center

If you are on credit card payments, you can review the history of successfully paid bills in the Billing Center.

To access the Billing Center, go to the ‘manage ad accounts’ section from the right-hand navigation bar and take you to your ad accounts page. From there, select ‘billing’ to view your billing history.

The bill is summarizing the spend on the ad set level. To save the .pdf version of the bill, select download bill.

Please note: At the moment the billing center is only available for the customers paying by the credit card. Invoiced customers who previously paid by credit card will not have access to the billing center. Invoiced customers will receive their invoice to the billing email they provided during invoice set up. If you do not have access to your invoice, you can reach out to customer support in order to retrieve previous payment records over email.

Payment options

Our default payment method is by credit card. All customers will need to add a credit/debit card before they can start advertising with us.

You can pay for ads using your credit or debit card. We accept the following credit cards:

Visa
American Express
Mastercard
Discover

You may also request invoicing as your payment method. Please contact us for more information.

Invoice billing

If you’d like to transition to invoice billing rather than credit card billing, here is what you need to know.

Timing
Invoices are sent monthly, on the ninth business day, for the impressions delivered in the previous month.

Payments
Payment terms differ by country and will be mentioned on the invoice.

Practical info
Legal entities:

We accept bank transfers or checks (US only). Credit cards are not supported.
US customers receive invoices from Spotify USA Inc.
Non-US customers receive invoices from Spotify AB, except for customers in Brazil who will be billed by Spotify Brazil.

Business name in invoice:

The Business Name inputted during account setup will appear on your invoice. If you need that changed in order to pay your invoice, reach out to adstudio@spotify.com before we issue an invoice.

PO numbers:

Be sure to add during campaign creation.
It’s not possible to add a PO number after your campaign is approved.

Rates:

Ad Studio contracts in net rates.

Billing timezone:

Invoices reference UTC timezone.
An ad ending at 23:59 EST on the 31st of January will be included in the following month’s invoice, as it would have run for 5 hours in UTC. Please book your ads accordingly if you need to.

Account information:

To make a request, please fill out this form and our support team will review to confirm eligibility.

If your information needs to be updated, you can make changes directly within your Ad Studio account. All business information in your account will be reflected on your invoice. Alternatively you must communicate these changes through our support channels before your first invoice is issued or you will be liable for making payments ‘as is’ without the updated account information.
To update your information, please send an email to adstudio@spotify.com.
Agencies in Mexico and France must include their business details and details of the advertiser (your client), as it is required we send the invoice to both parties.

Adding multiple credit cards

At this time, you can’t add multiple cards. You can change the card on file at any time in your ad account settings or in the review step of the ad creation and we’ll charge the card on file at the time of billing.

Accepted currencies

At this time, you can purchase Ad Studio ads using your local currency:

Austria: EUR
Australia: AUD
Barbados: USD
Belize: USD
Brazil: BRL
Canada: CAD
Denmark: DKK
Finland: EUR
France: EUR
Germany: EUR
Ghana: GHC
Guyana: USD
Italy: EUR
Jamaica: USD
Kenya: KES
Mexico: MXN
Netherlands: EUR
New Zealand: NZD
Norway: NOK
Singapore: SGD
Spain: EUR
Sweden: SEK
Tanzania: TZS
Trinidad & Tobago: USD
Uganda: UGX
United Kingdom: GBP
United States: USD

What do I do if I forgot my password?

If you’ve forgotten your login information, you need to reset it through Spotify. Follow these steps to do so.

Why wasn’t my ad approved?

Your ad might be rejected by Spotify for one of the following reasons:

The ad fails to comply with Spotify’s Advertising Terms and Conditions.
The incorrect length (ads must be 30 seconds or less).
The ad promotes or links to a Spotify competitor.
You are not eligible for the type of placement you selected.

For a full list of audio ad guidelines, check out our audio ad specs.

For a full list of video ad guidelines, check out our video ad specs.

What if I receive errors when inputting my credit card?

It’s likely that you’re using a credit card that doesn’t match the country that your account is registered with. Ad Studio is live in the following markets, and we can only accept cards issued in these countries:

Austria
Australia
Barbados
Belize
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Guyana
Italy
Jamaica
Kenya
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Tanzania
Trinidad & Tobago
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States

First, double-check that your card was issued in one of the above countries. Then, check if the country your Ad Studio account is registered in matches the card-issuing country. To check this, log into Ad Studio and go to your Account Settings. Click edit and verify the country that is listed. If the country listed in your Account Settings is incorrect, you will need to create a new Ad Studio account.

If you are still having issues at this stage, let us know and we can help find the issue.

Why were my edits rejected?

Your ad edits might be rejected by Spotify for one of the following reasons:

The ad fails to comply with Spotify’s Advertising Terms and Conditions.
The incorrect length (ads must be 30 seconds or less).
The ad promotes or links to a Spotify competitor.
You are not eligible for the type of placement you selected.

For a full list of audio ad guidelines, check out our audio ad specs.

For a full list of video ad guidelines, check out our video ad specs.

Note: You will receive an email to the business email provided with the reason for rejection stated.

Why has my account been suspended?

Your account may have been suspended for reasons like missing too many payments or violating our terms of service. Please review and update your payment details if needed. When your account is suspended, your ads are automatically paused. If your account is removed from the suspendlist, you can resume your ads. Otherwise, reach out to us for more information or to request reactivation.

What if I have issues with invoices?

Due to the functionalities of Ad Studio, changes to outstanding invoices will not be accommodated. This includes, but is not limited to:

PO numbers additions
Customer name changes
Billing address changes

Prior to the beginning of the month, the customer must update their account or inform the Ad Studio team of any account corrections that could impact invoicing. Please reach out to your sales rep or through our support channels and do not reply to the email that sends the invoices.

If changes are not communicated in a timely manner, as the customer, you will still be liable for making payments for outstanding invoices without the updated account information.

Any changes made will be applied to future invoices.

Does my ad stay paused if my edits get rejected?

If proposed edits are rejected, the current ad will remain stopped until the edits are compliant with Ad Studio’s advertising policies. Click here for more details.

Once an ad has been rejected, advertisers can edit the existing ad rather than creating a new ad. Note: Some edits cannot be done when an ad is rejected, and a new ad will need to be created.

Can I target by language?

Yes. Spotify Ad Studio advertisers can use language targeting in their campaigns. Available languages: EN, FR, ES, BR, IT and DE. Please refer to the targeting section on the help center for more information.

Why can’t I filter by date range in my report?

On September 7, 2023, we made updates to the reporting in Ad Studio. In the campaign table report, all metrics reflect lifetime data only. All saved filters will also reflect lifetime data only. For a daily breakdown of your campaign data, navigate to View Report and select Download data to retrieve a csv download.

Why is the amount I spent different from the budget I set?

If you are based outside of Australia, you’re only charged each time the ad actually plays. This means the total amount spent might be less than the original budget set. This may occur if the targeted audience is too small to spend the full budget (e.g. if you’ve selected a very specific location or selected both Genre and Fan targeting). You’ll never be charged more than the original budget set.

If you’re based in Australia, Spotify users have the option to skip your ad or listen through to completion. You’re only charged when a user listens to the ad to completion. Based on your targeting parameters, Ad Studio will attempt to spend your budget in full. This spend amount may be slightly less than your budget due to the amount of users in your target audience that skipped your ad.

Why are previously targetable locations now unavailable?

We continuously review our geography data to ensure our local targeting options are up to date. As new data comes in, some locations you may have been able to choose previously might now be unavailable. If you receive an error message, remove the unavailable locations from your ad’s targeting or choose a different location.

What if there are differences in the amount on my invoices versus my Ad Studio account?

If there are any discrepancies between the invoice amount and the amount shown in your Ad Studio account for the selected time period, contact us and we can help find the issue.

Can I use interest, real-time context, genre, and fan targeting all together?

No. You can select one option among interest, real-time context, genre, and fan targeting.

Monetization Policies Brand Safety

Monetization Policies

Overview

We believe in everyone’s right to share their voice. Additionally, we want our users and advertisers to feel confident and comfortable in the Spotify environment. As such, we’ve established monetization policies to guide creators on the rules they must follow to monetize their content. In addition to these policies, we don’t permit content that violates our User Guidelines or Platform Rules. When we determine that a creator has violated our policies, we will take the appropriate action.

These rules are subject to change at any time and anything listed below is illustrative and may not be exhaustive.

Monetization Policies

We want advertisers to trust their advertisements will not show up against sensitive or prohibited content, so we created monetization policies outlining the types of content that may not be eligible for advertising support. These standards are informed by internal expertise and external guidance (including the Global Alliance for Responsible Media), and we regularly review and refresh them in accordance with changing needs and expectations within the ad industry. The examples in the below sections are for illustrative purposes only and may not be exhaustive.

If you’ve reviewed the Monetization Policies and you disagree with an action taken on your content or account, please submit an appeal and we’ll review your request.

Prohibited Content

In addition to complying with the Spotify Platform Rules, creators who wish to monetize their content with Spotify must adhere to the following policies:

Illegal Content

We prohibit the monetization of content that violates applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to:

content that violates the intellectual property rights of third parties.
content that promotes, advocates or facilitates online piracy or counterfeiting.

Dangerous or Derogatory Content

We prohibit the monetization of content that:

promotes, incites, advocates, or contains the graphic depiction of violence, death, injury, or willful harm towards others.
promotes, incites, advocates, or contains graphic depiction of terrorist activity.
promotes or facilitates human rights violations (e.g. human trafficking, slavery, self-harm, etc.) or animal cruelty.
incites hatred, promotes violence, vilifies, or dehumanizes people based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, nationality, religion, caste, victims and survivors of violent acts and their family members, immigration status, or serious disease sufferers.
bullies or harasses named individuals or groups of people.
promotes, incites, or advocates unlawful criminal activity.
contains incendiary content that provokes, entices, or evokes military aggression.

Regulated or Illegal Goods or Services

We prohibit the monetization of content that:

promotes, advocates, or facilitates the sales or use of illegal arms.
instructive content on how to obtain, make, sell or use arms in an unregulated environment.
depicts the use of illegal arms in unregulated environments.
promotes, advocates, or facilitates the sales of illegal drugs or abuse of prescription drugs.
promotes or advocates for tobacco, e-cigarette, or alcohol use by minors.

Deceptive Behaviors

We prohibit the monetization of content that:

promotes, advocates, or facilitates activities associated with spam.
promotes, advocates, or facilitates cybercrime (including malware and phishing).

Sensitive Content

We prohibit the monetization of content that:

includes graphic depictions of sexual acts, including through audio or visuals.
depicts genitals or gratuitous nudity, whether real or simulated.
contains excessive use of profane language, gestures, or other repulsive actions that shock, offend, or insult.
contains insensitive, irresponsible and harmful treatment of debated social issues.

Editorial Standards

In certain cases, we may choose to restrict monetization of content for reasons outside of the policies above including, but not limited to:

Content is in an unsupported language for our monetization channels.
Content is targeting an unsupported audience, for example, children under the age of 13.
Content is miscategorized based on the available category options and the primary nature of the content.
Content is primarily stripped from other sources, is translated from other creators or authors without the addition of original content, is a written work by authors read aloud without the addition original content, or includes repeated (i.e., slideshow) static images with no original commentary or audio.
Content or creator accounts include indications of fraud or non-human traffic, etc.

Abuse of Monetization Services

If we reasonably suspect abuse of our services in any way, we reserve the right to remove access to monetization services, withhold accrued earnings, and/or remove the account or content. Abuse of monetization services includes but is not limited to:

Manipulating engagement with content.
Using unauthorized financial instruments.
Providing false or inaccurate account or contact information.
Deceptive practices.

Brand Safety & Suitability Overview

At Spotify, our goal is to raise the bar on audio brand safety – delivering increased transparency and easy to use controls to connect millions of advertisers and creators to billions of fans in a trusted environment.

Spotify uses a combination of people, policies, and technology to support building a safe space for advertisers. This enables advertisers to deliver ads that align with their unique brand message and create an engaging experience for our listeners.

Our teams are continuously working to ensure Spotify remains a trusted platform for our advertisers. Our people establish partnerships, review content, and build solutions.
We leverage industry standard principles to inform our content and brand safety guidelines. We work with industry bodies like the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) to create new standards in the digital audio space.
Our technology gives advertisers 100% share of voice during screenless moments, rather than sitting alongside other content. We also offer a range of advertiser controls so you can customize your campaign to meet your individual needs.

Advertising Policies

General Content Standards

In addition to the below policies and our Platform Rules, advertisers are responsible for ensuring that any ads they seek to place on the Spotify service comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and industry codes and satisfy our Editorial Policies. Advertisers must also hold, and maintain the active status of, all necessary licenses and registrations.

We reserve the right to reject or remove any ad for any reason. This includes ads that negatively affect our relationship with our partners or that promote content that goes against our interests. We also reserve the right to request modifications to any ad and to require factual substantiation for any claim. These rules are subject to change at any time.

Prohibited Ads

Ads promoting the following products and services are prohibited on the Spotify service:

Dangerous or Derogatory Content

Spotify is home to a diverse community of users and creators. As such, we don’t allow advertisers to use our advertising products to:

Promote, incite, or glorify violence
Harass, bully or incite hatred against any individual or group
Promote stereotypes or negatively portray or attack an individual or group on the basis of race, religion, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, age, disability or other characteristics associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization
Engage in or promote any other behavior that may place people at risk of harm

Inappropriate Content

We don’t allow ads containing, depicting, or promoting content that is inappropriate for our advertising platform including:

Harmful or unlawful acts
Graphic violence or depictions of serious bodily harm
Gruesome audio or imagery
Gratuitous use of profanity

Explicit Adult Content

We don’t allow ads containing or promoting sexually explicit material, including:

Pornography or visual depictions of genitalia
Sexual solicitation

Dangerous Products and Services

We don’t allow ads promoting dangerous products, including:

Firearms
Dangerous weapons, such as knives that are designed to injure an opponent
Explosives and instructional content about building explosives
Cigarettes, tobacco products, and related accessories
Nicotine products not designed to aid in smoking cessation
Vaporizers and related accessories
Recreational drugs and related accessories

Illegal or Deceptive Products and Services

We don’t allow ads that promote any illegal conduct, product, enterprise or service or intend to deceive users through exclusion of important information or misrepresentation of a product, service, or advertiser identity. The following examples reflect prohibited advertising content:

False or misleading representations (of identity, business models, etc.)
“Get rich quick” schemes
Manipulated and synthetic media that causes harm
Deceptive or fraudulent offers
Counterfeit or fake products
Cloaking, malware, or phishing
Otherwise enabling illegal, deceptive or dishonest behavior

Restricted Ads

Ads promoting the following content, products and services are allowed with some restrictions and/or limitations:

Financial Products and Services

We restrict the promotion of financial products and services on our platform. We may prohibit or restrict certain financial products or services beyond what local regulations require.

We don’t allow the promotion of the following financial products:

High APR personal loans (e.g., payday loans)
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options
Decentralized finance (DeFi) trading protocols
Credit cards with staking requirements

Below are examples of financial products and services that we may permit in certain instances:

Cryptocurrency wallets, platforms and exchanges
Credit cards without staking requirements
Credit products and services (e.g., credit cards, HELOCs, etc.)
Loan products and services (e.g., mortgages, car loans, etc.)
Auto, medical, life or other insurance products and services

At this time, we only allow cryptocurrency advertisements through Direct sales. To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for ads promoting financial products and services, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.

Gambling and Games

We restrict the promotion of gambling and gambling-related ads on our platform.

Below are examples of gambling-related ad content that we may permit in certain instances:

Brick-and-mortar casinos
Online casinos and social casino games
Sports betting, daily fantasy sports, and lotteries
Products or services where users can play games of chance to win money or prizes with real world value
Other websites or services facilitating or leading to online gambling content, including affiliates, aggregators, and comparison sites

To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for ads promoting gambling and games, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.

Alcohol

We restrict the promotion of alcohol, alcohol surrogates, and alcohol-related products.

Alcohol ads cannot:

Target or appeal to users under the applicable legal drinking age based on where ads are targeted
Depict irresponsible or underage drinking
Imply that drinking alcohol can improve social, sexual, professional, intellectual, or athletic standing
Imply that drinking can treat health issues or offer therapeutic benefits
Portray excessive or irresponsible drinking, including consuming alcohol in conjunction with operating a vehicle or other heavy machinery

To learn more about restrictions for alcohol ads, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.

Political

At this time, we only permit advertisers to promote political ads in the United States and India. In order for an account to be eligible, the account holder must complete an advertiser identity verification process.

Below are examples of political ad content that we may permit in certain instances:

Ads sponsored by candidates, political parties, political committees, any entity registered or reporting under any federal, state or local campaign finance law, or others sponsoring ads on behalf of any of the above-listed categories
Ads that feature a candidate for elected office or current elected officeholder
Ads that feature a ballot measure, proposition, or initiative

Additionally, we require that political advertisements clearly disclose the use of any synthetic or manipulated media, including media created or edited with the use of Artificial Intelligence tools, that depicts real or realistic-looking people or events. This disclosure must be included in the advertisement and must be clear and conspicuous.

To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for political ads, please contact your Spotify sales representative.

Healthcare

Some healthcare ads on our platform may be restricted based on the advertiser, the product or service being promoted, and/or the region they target. Other healthcare products and services may not be permitted under any circumstances.

Below are examples of healthcare-related ad content that we may permit in certain instances:

Online pharmacies
Offline brick-and-mortar pharmacies
Prescription pharmaceutical products
Over-the-counter medication and supplements
Pharmaceutical manufacturers
Medical devices
Birth control products and contraceptives
Clinical trial recruitment
Medical and cosmetic services

To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for healthcare ads, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.

Overview

We want our users to enjoy the Spotify Service in a safe and fun environment. With that in mind, we’ve established a few ground rules for our Advertisers to follow when promoting their products and services on Spotify.

To promote a positive user experience, the below sets forth (1) our general content standards; (2) content that is prohibited on the Spotify Service; and (3) products and services that have restrictions on them and that require approval on a case-by-case basis.

Spotify continues to support advertising initiatives that result in better experiences for our users and community. Learn more about one of these initiatives by the Coalition for Better Ads here.

Editorial Requirements

To promote a positive user experience, we require that advertisers adhere to the following editorial guidelines:

Text:

Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation
Avoid excessive or unnecessary punctuation and capitalization

Branding and clarity:

Clearly reflect and state the brand, advertiser name, or identity
Avoid assets or text that are unclear or incomprehensible
Do not imply an endorsement or relationship with any brand, label, artist, album, or track, unless you’ve independently obtained the rights to do so
Do not use Spotify’s trademarks, trade names, brand features, or other intellectual property without Spotify’s prior written approval

Media:

Ads must follow our Audio and/or Video Ad Specs and Requirements
Visual assets should be suitable for all targeted users
Avoid repetitive, gimmicky, or otherwise low quality media assets
Media assets should not mimic the Spotify interface or otherwise mislead or trick users into interacting with an ad

Spotify supports advertising initiatives that result in better experiences for our users and community. Learn more about one of these initiatives by the Coalition for Better Ads here.

Campaign Performance

About the Spotify Pixel

*This feature is currently in beta

Measure conversion events that resulted from your Spotify campaign.

What is the Spotify Pixel?

The Spotify Pixel is a piece of JavaScript code placed on a website that allows you to analyze the actions that listeners took after hearing or seeing your ad. With the Spotify Pixel via Ad Studio you can…

Install once to measure all of your ads on Spotify.
See key actions that listeners take on your website across all devices.
Better understand the ROI of your audio ad spend across Ad Studio.

What can the Spotify Pixel measure?

At this time, the Spotify Pixel via Ad Studio could track website activities, including:

Visitors
Lead
Add to cart
Purchase

Attribution Methodology

*This feature is currently in beta and will become available to all users in early 2024.

About Data Collection for Attribution

In order to understand Spotify’s attribution methodology, it’s important to understand the basics of the data that our platform needs in order to match conversions to impressions.

Impression Data

For Ad Studio campaigns that activate the Spotify Pixel, Spotify collects the following impression-level data:

IP Address – IP addresses are assigned to a device based on how the device is connected to the Internet. For example, all devices that are connected to a wireless router in a home will have the same IP address; however, once a mobile device leaves the house and connects to cell service, the device’s IP address will change. All IP addresses have a connection type, and Spotify Ad Analytics treats these types differently when running attribution. These connection types include:
- Household IP
- Cable/DSL/Dial-up IP
- Commercial IP
- Cellular IP
UserAgent – Spotify receives identifying characteristics about the app and/or browser being used to consume music and/or podcast content, such as:
- Player Type (e.g. web browser, Spotify app, etc.)
- Device Type (iOS or Android)
- Device Make and Model (e.g. iPhone 14, Samsung Galaxy, etc)
- Operating System Version (e.g. iOS 16.1, Androide 14, etc)
Impression Details – Details about a listener’s ad exposure are key to the attribution methodology, as well as for analysis of the results. Key details include:
- Timestamp

Conversion Data

The Spotify Pixel is designed to capture website activity and is only installed once the brand opts to measure conversion events that could be attributed to their Spotify ads.

Conversion data is organized based on the events defined during pixel installation. Ad Studio currently supports the following events: page view, lead, add-to-cart, and purchase.

About the Device Graph used for Attribution

Spotify utilizes a device graph covering Australia, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. in order to determine which IP addresses are from a household, as well as household reach.

Why do we use a device graph?

Spotify relies on IP addresses in order to attribute impressions to website visits. Information about the types of data collected for attribution is detailed in the section above.

For attribution to be accurate, we have to consider the connection type of the IP addresses across the exposed audience. This becomes challenging when many people are associated with a single “noisy” IP address (e.g. an office building, university campus, public WIFI network, etc). We consider household connections to be the most precise available, as they are much more likely to have the same people connecting to them over time.

How can a device graph help?

Spotify uses a device graph in order to sift through the noise and identify household IP addresses. IP addresses that do not match to the device graph may still be considered a household if the connection type is not a cell-tower or commercial IP address. Spotify monitors those IP addresses from the Spotify Pixel to ensure they are behaving like a household.

For those IP addresses that do not match to the device graph and are a cell-tower or commercial IP address (i.e. noisy IPs), Spotify uses a shortened attribution window to remove false positives . In order to showcase the effectiveness of a full campaign across all IP address connection types, Spotify models results for impressions that fall outside of the identified household IP addresses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the device graph available?
This device graph is available in Australia, Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
How does attribution work in markets where the device graph is not available?
In markets where Spotify does not utilize a cross-device graph, we look at the total pool of IP addresses and the connected device count associated with each to identify IP addresses that behave like household IP addresses, in order to perform attribution.
What is the average match rate for your device graph?
Though it varies based on the campaign, we generally see a 40-80% match rate. We offer both an unmodeled and a modeled view of campaign performance that accounts for activity from non-matched IPs.

Who powers the device graph?

Our device graph is powered by Tapad.

Third-party Ad Verification

Ad Studio currently supports select third-party measurement partners for ad verification of both audio and video ads.

For Google Campaign Manager verification tracking, you can add DCM click and impression tags when you create or edit an audio or video ad. Once you’ve worked with your Google representative to generate the appropriate tags, you can attach them to your Ad Studio ads using the following steps:

For DCM Click Tracking: Within the Create new ad > Add an image and button section, copy and paste the DCM click tracker into the Clickthrough URL field.
For DCM Impression Tracking: Within the Create new ad > Add tracking section, navigate to the Tracking URLs drop-down and select DCM Impression Tracking. You can then copy and paste the DCM impression tracker into the field below.
Please note, you must have an existing relationship with Google to implement DCM verification tracking in Ad Studio. Ad verification and all other third-party tracking are optional.

DCM tags are only available for impression tracking for ads in podcasts.

For all other third-party ad verification partners, reach out to our customer support team for more information on whether we currently support your tags.

Third-party Viewability Measurement

Ad Studio currently supports the following third-party measurement partners for viewability tracking of video ads only:

Moat
Integral Ad Science (IAS)

For Moat viewability tracking, you can leverage Ad Studio’s tagless integration with Moat using the following steps:

Within the Create new ad > Add tracking section, navigate to the Viewability tracking drop-down and select Moat. Once selected, you can proceed to finish creating your campaign, ad set, or ad.
Once you’ve submitted your campaign, ad set, or ad, you’ll be prompted on the confirmation page to submit your campaign name and campaign ID to Moat using the Moat Campaign Permission Form and instructions that are provided on the page. This will allow Moat to enable access to the Ad Studio campaign data within your Moat dashboard.
Please note, you must have an existing relationship with Moat to implement Moat viewability tracking in Ad Studio. Viewability and all other third-party tracking are optional.

For Integral Ad Science (IAS) viewability tracking, you can add your IAS tracking URL when creating or editing a video ad. Once you’ve worked with your IAS representative to generate the appropriate tags, you can attach them to your Ad Studio video ads using the following steps:

Within the Create new ad > Add tracking section, navigate to the Viewability tracking drop-down and select IAS (Integral Ad Science).
Then copy and paste the IAS URL into the field below.
Please note, you must have an existing relationship with IAS to implement IAS viewability tracking in Ad Studio. Viewability and all other third-party tracking are optional.

Please note, we don’t use third-party tracking for billing purposes and are not responsible for any of the third-party vendor fees. All billing amounts are determined using the metrics tracked directly in Ad Studio and do not include third-party vendor fees.

Reporting for third-party tracking can be accessed directly through your measurement partner’s dashboard and won’t be surfaced in Ad Studio. Please allow approximately 24-48 hours for Ad Studio data to begin populating in your vendor dashboard.

Understand Performance

*This feature is currently in beta and will become available to all users in early 2024.

How to read and analyze your attribution campaign

Attribution is the measurement of people’s actions on your website after they hear your ad. The Spotify Pixel helps you track conversions that could be attributed to your Ad Studio campaign and reporting is available at both the Ad Set and Campaign levels.

Before you begin…

Before analyzing campaign results, make sure you have clear answers to the following questions.

What was the campaign’s primary KPI?
What were the targeting tactics used across the media?
What was the call-to-action in the creative?
Which conversion events were activated for the Spotify Pixel?

The Metrics

Ad Studio campaigns that activate the Spotify Pixel will be eligible to track and see aggregated data for the specific conversion events being measured.

Available attribution metrics include:
- Page Views= Number of attributed website page views
- Leads = Number of attributed leads
- Add to Cart = Number of attributed add-to-cart events
- Purchases = Number of attributed purchase events

Notes for Analysis

Compare Ad Sets – Evaluate which ad sets saw the highest conversion rate, and ask yourself if there are any reasons why a specific ad set might perform better than another (e.g. audience targeting tactics, creative messaging, seasonality, etc.).
Benchmarks Coming Soon – It’s always helpful to understand the performance of your campaign in the context of the broader industry. During the Closed Beta period, conversion benchmarks will not be available, but we look forward to sharing more information related to benchmarks in early 2024.

About Modeled vs. Unmodeled Attribution

Spotify models attribution results in order to provide a more comprehensive view of the impact of your campaign.

Before you dive in:

It’s important to understand what data Spotify Ad Analytics is able to use for attribution and how we analyze attribution using a device graph.

What are modeled results vs. unmodeled results?

Using a device graph, Spotify confirms the impressions in a standard attribution window based on confirmed household IP addresses. Additionally, IP addresses that are not ‘noisy’ (i.e. noisy IP addresses are those using a cell-tower or commercial connection) are analyzed in order to determine if they should be considered a household or not. When Spotify determines impressions are not from a household, results are subsequently modeled so that your campaign’s results provide additional insight into the effectiveness of its full reach and impact.

How does it work?

Based on the total IP space captured through impressions, we project a multiple of additional conversions that would have also likely happened on the advertiser’s website had we been able to run standard attribution across all impressions.
The multiplier will vary for each ad set as it is based on the amount of non-noisy IP data we can use for attribution and the amount of noisy IP data discarded.
The multiplier is calculated by taking the unique number of total IP addresses and dividing it by the unique number of household IP addresses.

When should I use modeled vs. unmodeled attribution data?

It’s always recommended that you reference modeled attribution data in order to understand the full impact of your campaign, however, you may want to use unmodeled attribution data in the following circumstances:

If you want to compare other Ad Studio data to a conversion report, which will export as unmodeled.
If you want to do an apples-to-apples comparison to other analytics tools.
If you have your own modeling methodology and want to apply your own multiplier to your Spotify Ad Studio results

Spotify Pixel FAQs

*This feature is currently in beta and will become available to all users in early 2024.

Frequently Asked Questions regarding the Spotify Pixel and conversion measurement in Ad Studio.

1. Who should implement the Spotify Pixel?

The Spotify Pixel must be installed by the brand or website owner.

2. What types of media can be measured?

The Spotify Pixel can measure all media booked via Ad Studio, including audio and video ads across music and podcasts.

3. When does the Spotify Pixel need to be installed to measure my campaign?

Your pixel should be installed at least one to two weeks before the start of a campaign. If your pixel is not installed correctly or is not installed at all, your campaign’s performance data will be inaccurate. Data cannot be collected retroactively.

4. Will the Spotify Pixel slow down my website?

Our JavaScript loads asynchronously, which means it will not significantly increase load times of your website or the pages the JavaScript code is on.

5. Why does Spotify Ad Analytics recommend a javascript pixel instead of an image pixel?

JavaScript pixel implementation is required to get the most comprehensive information and realistic story of attributed events. In the event an image pixel is used instead of a JS pixel, the following limitations apply:

No landing URL detection
Inability to capture 100% of attributed visitors, because there is no first-party cookie dropped
Inability to deduplicate multiple actions from the same user, meaning some of the events may be artificially inflated

6. What is a Lead event?

Leads are website events that advertisers could use to track when a user takes some kind of action (e.g. signs up for a newsletter, books an appointment, requests a quote, etc).

Troubleshooting the Spotify Pixel

*This feature is currently in beta and will become available to all users in early 2024.

Once you’ve installed the Spotify Pixel, here are some troubleshooting tips if you’re not seeing activity.

You’ve implemented the Spotify Pixel on your website and it’s been at least 20 minutes by you’re still not seeing activity in the Ad Studio dashboard. What do you do now?

Instructions

Compare the implemented script with the script directly in your Ad Studio account.
Confirm that you’ve entered the Main Pixel script into your website correctly and check your code/console for errors
- If you use a tag manager, ensure that you have your pixel either installed within the tag manager or directly onto the site, not both
- If using Shopify, confirm the Shopify processes have been followed
Check for any interference in pixel fires due to a Content Security Policy (CSP)

If you’re still not seeing any pixel activity…

Check-in with your Engineering or Web Development team on where website pixels are installed
Inspect the webpage where your pixel should be installed (note that this will not work if installed via a tag manager)
- If the Spotify Pixel code appears in full when searching for the pixel, then the pixel is installed correctly.
- If nothing shows up, then the Spotify Pixel is not installed on your website.
Go to the pixeled webpage
Right-click anywhere on your webpage and select “Inspect” in the drop-down menu
- (On a Mac) Command + F to search
Type in “pdst” and click enter or return depending on the device you’re using to search for the Spotify Pixel.

Measure Your Campaign

*This feature is currently in beta and will become available to all users in early 2024.

Once the Spotify Pixel is installed on your website, it’s easy to start measuring your Ad Studio campaigns. Below is a guide on activating the Spotify Pixel when booking your campaign.

Create a campaign

1. Start by creating a campaign in Ad Studio and following the booking prompts until you reach the Delivery Objective section. In order to activate conversion measurement, you must select “Clicks” as the objective.

2. Within the Conversion Tracking section, click Pixel Tracking and select the brand that you’d like to measure from the drop down.

3. Click Next and continue the prompts in the campaign booking flow. Conversion measurement via the pixel will now be activated for this ad set.

Getting Started

Add Legal Entity to an Ad Account

Ad CreationVideo ads

Setting a call-to-action

Creating and saving drafts

Ad review

Choose where to place your ads

Podcast ad delivery

Creating and saving drafts

Ad review

Ads overview

Choose where to place your ads

Setting a custom frequency cap

Setting your budget

Asset library in Ad Studio

Audio ads in podcasts

Background tracks

Automatic placement

Targeting

Location targeting

Content controls

Music genres targeting

Language targeting

Fan bases targeting

Contextual Playlists

Targeting options

Interest targeting

Reporting

Reporting Metrics Glossary

Reporting can be accessed at the ad set level within the report tab. To access this tab, simply hover over the name of the ad set and select see overview or view report, after which you will be able to access the insights and reporting for the ad set within the report, details, and ads tabs.

Your ad set report includes a summary of delivery, performance, and audience metrics for each ad set.

Overview

Delivery

Auction

Performance

Podcast Streams Performance

Please note that users muting or closing the app may impact audio completion rates. Podcast completion rates account for these events, and any seek events such as skipping, scrubbing, fast-forwarding, etc.

Streaming Conversion Metrics

Available only for artist and podcast promotion campaigns. These metrics show you how listeners are responding to your ad so that you can understand how advertising impacts the listener journey on Spotify.

*Metrics available for video views objective campaigns only.

Ads reporting

How to schedule a report

Reports in Ad Studio (beta)

How to create a new report

Manage existing reports

How to export a report

Manage existing reports

How to export a report

Reporting in the campaign table

Audience insights metrics

Third-party Reporting Partners

Campaign Managment

Edit or stop an ad campaign

Creating and saving drafts

Campaigns, ad sets, and ads

Managing your bid

Edits that require ad re-approval

Duplicating Ad Sets and Ads

Promoting Musique

Reporting Metrics Glossary

Reporting can be accessed at the ad set level within the report tab. To access this tab, simply hover over the name of the ad set and select see overview or view report, after which you will be able to access the insights and reporting for the ad set within the report, details, and ads tabs.

Your ad set report includes a summary of delivery, performance, and audience metrics for each ad set.

Overview

Delivery

Auction

Performance

Podcast Streams Performance

Please note that users muting or closing the app may impact audio completion rates. Podcast completion rates account for these events, and any seek events such as skipping, scrubbing, fast-forwarding, etc.

Streaming Conversion Metrics

Available only for artist and podcast promotion campaigns. These metrics show you how listeners are responding to your ad so that you can understand how advertising impacts the listener journey on Spotify.

*Metrics available for video views objective campaigns only.

Streaming Conversion Tracking for Artists

Population of metrics

Targeting new listeners

Promotion type

Reporting for music-related ads in Australia

Conversion window

Billing and Payment

Billing cycle

Redeeming ad credits

Ad Creation

Video ads