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Tag: Arjun Kolady

  • Spotify tunes up India’s advertising scene with Sax and gen AI

    Spotify tunes up India’s advertising scene with Sax and gen AI

    MUMBAI: Spotify is cranking up the volume on its advertising game in India, launching the Spotify Ad Exchange (Sax)  and unleashing its generative AI ads. This double-whammy aims to give advertisers a programmatic playground and AI-powered audio ad creation, all while tapping into Spotify’s legion of engaged listeners.

    ” Sax is a new programmatic offering that will give advertisers in India easier access to Spotify’s high-quality inventory and more opportunities to reach our highly engaged audience at scale,” declared Spotify sales head India Arjun Kolady. “We aim to make it easier for our client and agency partners to include Spotify as a part of their programmatic always on audience strategies. Globally, over 5,000 advertisers have tested Sax, and with the official launch, our goal is to ensure that all programmatic players can plug into it”. 

    Sax, fresh from a successful US and Canadian pilot, integrates with Google DV360, The Trade Desk, and Magnite, allowing advertisers to bid for ad space via real-time auctions. This means full addressability and measurement across audio, video, and display ads, with podcast ads soon to join the party. Spotify is also boasting a partner framework to help advertisers track their results across the wider digital ecosystem. 

    Quipped Kolady. “We’re streamlining media strategies, boosting efficiency, and giving brands access to high-impact formats.”

    But that’s not all. Spotify is also leveraging its AI chops to launch generative AI ads, which allows advertisers to create audio ads – scripts, voiceovers, and background music – in a matter of minutes. This is a significant leap from the current multi-day process, and it comes at no extra cost.

    “We want to make it easier for advertisers of all stripes to create top-notch audio ads,” Kolady explained. “Gen AI Ads will help them stay topical, relevant, and reach a massive audience.”

    Spotify’s move is a clear shot at dominating the Indian audio advertising space, blending programmatic prowess with AI-driven creativity. With Sax and Gen AI Ads, the team is  betting big on making Spotify the go-to platform for advertisers looking to make some noise.

  • Spotify India & Amplified Intelligence partner to measure consumer attention across ads

    Spotify India & Amplified Intelligence partner to measure consumer attention across ads

    Mumbai: Spotify India and Amplified Intelligence, which focuses on accurate attention measurement, have shared findings from their research that determines attention benchmarks and norms across the audio streaming platform, and other similar platforms that brands lean into, for targeted advertising. The initiative also highlighted the impact of and relationship between mood and attention across all these advertising platforms.

    Key takeaways included:

    . Spotify video increases brand uplift by 50 per cent: With consistently high short-term advertising strength (STAS)1 scores across the board, Spotify creates an appealing environment for advertisers, spanning both audio and video advertising formats.

    . Advertising on Spotify amplifies the impact of social media campaigns: Combining social media with a presence on Spotify significantly enhances overall attention score for the campaign, resulting in an average increase of 28 points compared to campaigns relying solely on social media.

    . Amplified Intelligence quantified the value of Spotify’s advertising offering by capturing contextual location and mood information, and identifying how these were influenced. Providing granular insights into consumer behaviour in one of the largest markets in the world, the research findings support Spotify’s ability to offer brands a proven opportunity for successfully capturing active attention in India.

    Spotify measured a panel of users’ attention via Amplified Intelligence’s attentionTRACE tool, across one month using data from 2,500 people in India capturing more than 7,900 ad views. Video attention was captured by facial recognition software after consent was acquired from the respondents.

    Spotify head of sales – India, Arjun Kolady said: “Most advertisers have been focusing on determining the appropriate metrics for their campaigns. New findings reveal that creativity showcased on platforms with high attention generates greater impact, ultimately leading to improved business results. Our study with Amplified Intelligence has shown the impactful nature of Spotify’s ad formats and has helped to address the lack of research on visual attention in markets such as India.”

    Amplified Intelligence founder and CEO Karen Nelson-Field added, “One of the key challenges facing brands today is effective storytelling and identifying relevant success metrics. This becomes even more challenging with brief engagement times permeating many digital media formats. Our joint efforts with Spotify into measuring attention and identifying how audiences respond to ads proves how the metric is an ally to magnifying effectiveness and provides a canvas for brands to be able to connect to their audience.”

    Short-term advertising strength – Computed as the percentage of purchases among advertising-exposed consumers divided by the percentage of purchases among non-exposed consumers. This figure is multiplied by 100 giving a score where figures larger than 100, suggest a positive effect of the advertising.

  • Spotify X Royal Enfield: Fusion of music and motorcycling that fuels India’s youth culture

    Spotify X Royal Enfield: Fusion of music and motorcycling that fuels India’s youth culture

    Mumbai: Setting out on a motorcycle ride is already a thrilling experience, but when you add an exciting playlist that sets a perfect backdrop for your journey, it becomes an even better adventure. The fusion of music and motorcycling truly embodies a sense of freedom and exploration which is exactly what Spotify and Royal Enfield aim to power and enhance through an exciting year-long collaboration.

    To celebrate World Music Day and World Motorcycling Day in a uniquely spectacular fashion, Spotify and Royal Enfield are excited to rekindle their partnership with eclectic musical waves that will set the wheels in motion. What began as a bold experiment last year, to transform the local cultural scene by bringing together passionate music enthusiasts and motorcycling aficionados has quickly become one of the most anticipated collaborations in the community.

    This year, Spotify and Royal Enfield will elevate their partnership, focusing on supporting local artists and keeping India’s vibrant culture alive and thriving through Spotify’s RADAR, your go-to lineup for discovering fresh indie and pop talents and RAP 91, the heart of hip-hop across diverse languages and regions. Both these events will see Royal Enfield at the centre with a dedicated zone providing a pure music and motorcycling experience.

    “We’re beyond excited to partner with Royal Enfield once again,” said  Spotify India’s head of sales  Arjun Kolady. “RADAR and RAP 91 are such important platforms for new artists, and with Royal Enfield on board, we’re bringing these experiences to life in ways we’ve never done before.”

    Royal Enfield chief brand officer  Mohit Dhar Jayal said “Our partnership with Spotify stems from our mutual passion for culture, creativity and riding. While the riding community and motorcycling culture is core to everything we do at Royal Enfield, Spotify has been championing vivid musical cultures, artists and communities. We see this partnership as a collaborative campaign to bring together music and motorcycling as a form of self-expression that weaves symbiotic, cultural narratives blending the best of both worlds and offering new experiences for consumers.”

    Royal Enfield’s involvement is about creating an interactive space where the energy of music seamlessly blends with the spirit of riding. Imagine experiencing the latest Royal Enfield motorcycle while vibing to live performances from the hottest indie and hip-hop artists – this is the vision that this collaboration is bringing to life.

    Continuing their streak of musical adventure, Spotify and Royal Enfield are set to head to Goa from  November 22-24, 2024 for the 14th edition of Royal Enfield’s annual celebration of everything motorcycling, music, and community – Motoverse 2024. This unique gathering, presented by Royal Enfield, will host around 15000 passionate riders and motorcycle enthusiasts. Motoverse will feature an incredible lineup of RADAR artists, handpicked by Spotify, ready to set the stage ablaze. It’s a true celebration where music and motorcycles unite in a spectacular showcase of creativity and adventure.

    To maximize the reach and impact of these events, Royal Enfield will also be leveraging Spotify’s premium media unlocks including The Stage and Dynamic Audio Ads.

    The Stage is an innovative in-app product that allows Royal Enfield to deliver meaningful and personalized rich-media content directly to Spotify users. This platform offers a unique opportunity for Royal Enfield to engage with listeners in a more intimate and impactful way, making their brand story come alive through immersive media experiences.

    Dynamic Audio Ads combine the power of audio with advanced targeting and personalization capabilities. By dynamically swapping elements of an audio ad based on the listener’s time of day, day of the week, location, weather, and listening habits, Royal Enfield can tailor custom ads that resonate with the user’s current mood and moment. This innovative approach ensures that each interaction is relevant and engaging, fostering a deeper connection with the audience.

    Spotify and Royal Enfield’s partnership is about driving the growth of India’s indie, pop, and hip-hop scenes while embracing the adventurous spirit of young India. Get ready for an epic series of events, from RADAR in June and RAP 91, Motoverse extravaganza in November. 

  • Spotify launches Spotify Audience Network

    Spotify launches Spotify Audience Network

    Mumbai: Continuing its investment in the advertising business, Spotify announced the launch of the Spotify Audience Network in India, as well as in Sweden, Brazil, Mexico and Japan. The audio-first advertising marketplace will bring scaled, audience-based podcast buying to brands in India for the first time, and presents a unique opportunity for podcast publishers and creators in the markets to effectively monetize their content. The first publishers in India that will leverage the Network to monetise content through advertisers, include Audio Pitara and Ideabrew Studios.

    The Spotify Audience Network launched in the U.S. in 2021 and is now available in more than a dozen global markets across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Over the past 12 months, advertisers participating in the marketplace have grown over 45 per cent while opted-in podcast publishers have increased more than 70 per cent.

    “In Q3, our global advertising revenue grew 16 per cent YoY and podcasts played a critical role. Building on the same success and keeping in mind that India is a significant growth market for podcasts, we are unlocking this growing marketplace for  local advertisers and publishers. This expansion is the latest in a series of investments Spotify has made to take podcast and audio advertising to the next level by enabling brands to reach these uniquely engaged listeners at scale”, said Spotify head of sales – India, Arjun Kolady.

    “We are always looking for new ways to bring in advertising that not only drives greater revenue but also provides personalised and valuable messaging for our listeners. The Spotify Audience Network will be a critical addition to our monetization efforts by bringing us incremental, unique demand that helps ensure more of our impressions are filled by high-quality and brand-safe ads,” said Audio Pitara co-founder Tapan Gupta.

    “Podcasts are an immersive medium, and so, while we focus on finding innovative avenues to integrate advertising, we also want to ensure that the brand and the messaging is relevant to our audience. The inclusion of the Spotify Audience Network is pivotal to our growth strategy, as it adds distinctive demand”, explained Ideabrew Studios co-founder & CEO Aditya Kuber.

    Here’s what the Spotify Audience Network means for advertisers and publishers:

    1.    Beginning today, advertisers in India will be able to reach podcast listeners at scale across the Spotify Audience Network.

    2.    Our audio-first advertising marketplace connects advertisers with listeners using audience-based targeting tools, while they listen to their favourite podcasts from leading third-party podcast publishers like Audio Pitara and Ideabrew Studios.

    3.    Through this offering, advertisers across India will be able to target podcast listeners – at scale – both on and off Spotify.

    4.    For eligible and opted-in podcast creators, the Spotify Audience Network enables them to monetise impressions generated by listeners in the market.

    5.    From major podcast publishers with a global audience to smaller independent podcasters with a fiercely loyal fanbase, opting into the Spotify Audience Network will give all publishers scaled access to advertisers in-market that are interested in reaching your audience.