Spotify Ad Studio launches in Australia

Spotify has launched its self-serve advertising platform in Australia.

After completing at least six months of testing, the Spotify Ad Studio will create a brand’s audio ad for its own platform “in minutes,” according to a statement issued this morning.

It’s a rather painless process. Businesses can upload a script and select the background music, and Spotify takes over. Spotify Ad Studio will even record voiceovers for the spots, or clients can upload their completed audio spots directly to the new service.

Spotify then works its audience targeting know-how, which can hone in on age, gender, location, activity and even music taste. Clients can track results and set a budget which, Spotify says, caters to businesses “of all sizes” with flexible budget options for small and medium-sized companies.

Spotify Ad Studio rolls out in these parts after its launch in the U.S. in 2017, and expansion later in the U.K. and Canada. Since then, Spotify claims its ad studio has created more than 8,000 campaigns for “thousands” of advertisers.

It’s unclear how many Australian companies are using the service, though today’s statement quotes Andrea Ingham, head of sales at Spotify Australia & NZ, saying: “We’ve seen tremendous excitement and take up of Spotify Ad Studio by businesses in Australia who are looking for a more accessible, self-service approach to reaching our audience.”

Andrea Ingham, head of sales at Spotify Australia & NZ

TMRW Music and John Hughes Group are among the test partners. Elinor Williams, TMRW Music’s Marketing Manager, notes: “Often we find someone may listen to an artist’s music but they don’t follow their social channels, or may not spend much time on social media or other platforms. When targeting fans on Spotify, we’re able to convert a user from a listening fan to getting them to actually buy tickets to a gig or listen to their new album.”

Spotify Ad Studio is the latest signal the streaming giant is keen to do business with every tier of its ecosystem. In a world first, Spotify launched its Active Media product in Australia earlier this month.

Spotify is far and away the leading subscription music platform, boasting 170 million active users worldwide as at March 31, a figure which includes 75 million paying subscribers.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.