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Tag: Spotify

  • Spotify’s premium subscribers go up 27% in Q2 reaching 138 mn

    Spotify’s premium subscribers go up 27% in Q2 reaching 138 mn

    KOLKATA: Spotify Technology (Spotify) has added eight million Spotify Premium subscribers globally in Q2 touching 138 million, up by 27 per cent over-year-over. The popular audio streaming service’s monthly active users rose to 299 million, up by 29 per cent. 

    “Family Plan continues to be a significant driver of our outperformance. This quarter we expanded the availability of both Family Plan and our new Duo offering to new geographies. Following our launch in Russia and 12 surrounding markets on 15 July (post Q2), these multi-user plans are now available in 90+ territories globally. We saw strong subscriber growth across all regions in the quarter and finished ahead of our expectations,” Spotify said in a letter to shareholders.

    Ad-supported revenue of $131 million was down both year-over-year and sequentially. Last quarter, Spotify noted a marked deceleration in sales brought on by the global health crisis where the last three weeks in March were down more than 20 per cent relative to the forecast. While the performance continued to lag the company’s expectations through April and May, it significantly outperformed expectations in the month of June. 

    “We mentioned coming out of Q1 that the last three weeks of Q1were pretty weak and saw some big decline and that continued into April and May. We were actually running behind on the ads business for April and May, probably down about 25 per cent on those two months and then we really had a nice pick up in June. June was only down about 10 per cent on the advertising side,” Spotify CFO Paul Vogel said.

    Its podcast segment engagement in general overall is increasing as now 21 per cent of its MAU is engaged with podcasts which is up from 19 per cent and consumption was up over 100 per cent in the quarter.

    On the other side, premium revenue grew 17 per cent year over year to $1,758 million. Within Premium, average revenue per user of $4.41 in Q2 was down 9 per cent year-over-year. 

  • Spotify India’s new ads are for the international music aficionados

    Spotify India’s new ads are for the international music aficionados

    NEW DELHI: To celebrate the growing culture of international music, Spotify had launched its ‘Listening Together’ campaign a few months ago and has now launched the campaign in India.

    To kickstart the campaign globally, Spotify introduced the Listening Together microsite in May, highlighting the power of audio and how it brings us closer together in a time when many of us are feeling apart. The microsite is a visualisation of listening connections in real-time in a way that has never been done before.

    The campaign in India stems from the insight on how music is synonymous with life, and listeners across the country are listening to similar tracks in similar situations of their lives. With playlists such as ‘Today’s Top Hits’ with more than 25 million  followers, ‘Global Top 50’ at over 15 million followers, and ‘Rock Classics’ with over 8 million followers globally, Spotify is bringing listeners and communities together in moments, and across emotions. 

     

    “This campaign highlights a growing culture in India where our local users are streaming the very best of music that others  across the world are listening to. No matter one’s age or location, Spotify’s 4 billion playlists are the ultimate destination for all kinds of music lovers to make the music a part of their daily lives. And we have seen this with the growing popularity of playlists like Global Top 50, Today’s Top Hits, and even the old school Rock Classics, all of which have millions of followers globally,” said Spotify head of marketing India Neha Ahuja.

  • Impact of Covid2019 on global ad spends on Indian ad industry

    Impact of Covid2019 on global ad spends on Indian ad industry

    The Covid2019 pandemic has presented serious challenges when it comes to stabilising the overall economy amidst lockdown, one of which is changing industry dynamics. Covid2019 has impacted the way brands, agencies and various other businesses work which disrupted the ever-evolving advertising and marketing industry. The world’s leading economies have witnessed a downfall in the revenue as the businesses are shut. While there is no handbook that one can follow in such crisis, it is essential for advertisers to re-calibrate their entire approach and connect with the right target audience.

    Since people spend maximum time staying at home during the quarantine, connecting with them through digital media is convenient. In such cases, advertiser’s needs to know the tactic of how to keep their audiences engaged through right media platforms and how to make the brands invest through them.

    Are brands taking a responsible route? Shifts that were witnessed

    Restrictions on travel due to lockdown have posed to be a threat for Out-of-home (OOH) advertising and seems to be a medium that has no realistic lockdown replacement as it has majorly been impacting revenues. But what has actively taken over the current scenario during these tough times and has saved brands from sinking is the way online advertising is responding to it. Brands have started focusing on alternative ways of boosting their businesses online by taking a different approach towards dealing with the current scenario.

    Is global ad spends sinking?

    Spending has now made a shift from the traditional means of advertising from newspaper ads, hoardings, printed pamphlets etc., to digitally active platforms. These include social media like Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and also digital OTT Platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Voot etc. 

    Global ads are expected to sink this year as the pandemic has led to dip in travel and tourism and entertainment industry among others, all of which has impacted demand. This change in the global ad spending is what is been highlighted in the way brands have chosen to spend particularly on platforms as a means to increase their sales during and post lockdown. One of the major reasons why ad spends are sinking is because of the attitudinal shift in consumer behaviour. Most advertising companies will experience negative impacts on their business as ad revenues are dropping at a faster pace.  

    Even when sales are at halt because of the pandemic, what was to be noticed is the way how brands did not stop advertising. They continued to create awareness through digital platforms by posting TVCs and coming up with creative ways on Instagram pages which strongly depicted how brands are posing to be with their audience even during these tough times. 

    Creatives from various brands like Metro, Mochi, Burger King, Swiggy, Zomato, Audi etc., have found different ways and means to stay connected with their audiences on typical topics like lockdown, quarantine, isolated, pandemic while playing around strategically with these terms. Changing their logos to promote social distancing, etc brands like Dominos, Swiggy, Big Basket have even started safely delivering groceries by following WHO's guidelines at your door steps to hold credibility in the eyes of its consumers.

    Impact on Indian advertising industry

    While industry is actively dealing with the challenges of OOH during these challenging times, advertisers have now realised that digital progression is the only savior. Digital is the best medium for advertisers to reach their end users. We can already see a shift in Flipkart’s Big Billion Day sale, Myntra’s end of reason sale, etc has always happened in a particular way, but have a possibility of changing due to the crises.

    (The author is co-founder and managing director, Makani Creatives. The views expressed are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

  • Spotify, Warner Bros and DC announce multi-year partnership to produce original podcast slate

    Spotify, Warner Bros and DC announce multi-year partnership to produce original podcast slate

    NEW DELHI: In a collaborative and innovative effort to further increase premium content offerings for consumers, Spotify, Warner Bros and DC (the home of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, The Joker and many more iconic DC Super Heroes and Super-Villains) today announced a new multi-year deal to produce and distribute an original slate of narrative scripted podcasts, marking the first pact of its kind between the companies. 

    Spotify, the world’s leading audio streaming subscription service, is committed to an annual slate of new dramatic and comedic podcasts that Warner Bros. will develop and produce. Under terms of the deal, Spotify will have a first look at original scripted narrative DC podcasts, including new shows based on the vast universe of premier, iconic DC characters. The initial slate of projects under the partnership will also tap into Warner Bros.’ broader collection of timeless titles for additional series. 

    In addition to producing narratives based on existing characters and established franchises from across Warner Bros. and DC, the companies will also collaborate to create new programming from original intellectual property.

    On the Warner Bros. side, the partnership will be managed through a cross-divisional effort led by Peter Girardi and Robert Steele, who will co-develop and produce the programming in collaboration with Spotify, which will be responsible for the marketing, advertising, and distribution of the shows exclusively on its platform. Girardi — executive vice president of Blue Ribbon Content and of alternative programming at Warner Bros. Animation — will serve as the creative lead, and Steele — senior vice president, business strategy and operations, Warner Bros. Digital Networks — will spearhead strategic business aspects of the partnership for the Studio.

    “As we continue to see explosive growth in podcasting around the world, we are thrilled to partner with Warner Bros. to build this slate of programming drawn from the worlds of DC and WB,” commented Dawn Ostroff, chief content and advertising business officer, Spotify, who continued: “We could not be more excited to be working with Robert, Peter and the entire Warner Bros. and DC teams to deliver new exclusive stories to the more than 286 million Spotify users.”

    “Warner Bros. has been synonymous with compelling and unforgettable storytelling for nearly a century, and we’re continuing to expand that legacy across all types of media platforms for our fans,” said Robert Steele and Peter Girardi, in a joint statement. “Spotify’s deep engagement with its consumers and commitment to prioritizing their podcast vertical makes them an ideal partner in this endeavor. We’re excited to bring beloved characters and franchises from DC and Warner Bros. into this new world and to use our storytelling prowess to redefine what’s possible in the scripted audio space.”

    The agreement with Spotify continues Warner Bros.’ commitment to storytelling across all platforms and builds upon a January 2020 first-look deal WBDN announced with Rainy Day Podcasts — a new company formed by Jagged Films partners Mick Jagger & Victoria Pearman (“Shine a Light,” “Get on Up,” “Vinyl,” “Enigma”), producer Steve Bing (“The Polar Express,” “Marley,” “Neil Young: Heart of Gold,” “Shine a Light”), and Oscar®-nominated writer Josh Olson (“A History of Violence”) — to produce a slate of original narrative podcasts.

  • With 15 original podcasts for India, Spotify continues to cater to local pop culture

    With 15 original podcasts for India, Spotify continues to cater to local pop culture

    After launching the first three Spotify Original podcasts in India last December, the audio streaming platform now has an additional 12 podcasts. Predominantly non-fiction content, these podcasts explore news, heroes across communities, candid conversations, and a slice of life in India. Spotify has also added content from radio channels Radio City and Big FM, and Aawaz.com, an Indian podcasts and spoken-word audio network; all of this will be exclusively available on the platform.

    The 12 new podcasts include the recently launched originals such as Special Mission with Gul Panag, Maha Bharat with Dhruv Rathee, Zindagi Unplugged, Our Last Week with Anuvab & Kunaal, Off Script with Salil, with a total of over 200 episodes, all of which are already live. Several of these Spotify Original podcasts have regularly featured on the app’s podcast charts in the country, including Zindagi Unplugged, Off Script with Salil, and Special Mission with Gul Panag, with listeners not just in India, but also in the US, the UK, and Australia, among other countries.

    Amarjit Batra, Managing Director at Spotify India, said, “It has been heartening to see the growing traction for podcasts on our platform in India. We’ve continuously analysed what users are listening to, and gradually commissioned Original podcasts that our local users relate to, and want to engage with. Much of this content is non-fiction, but we are also open to fiction.  Besides the original content, we now have exclusive access to over 600 hours of content from Radio City, Big FM, and Aawaz.com, giving our growing listener base more reasons to make podcast listening a habit.”

    Over the year, Indian listeners have been consuming lifestyle-based content with ‘Society & Culture’ emerging as the top genre on the platform. The top 10 podcasts showcase this trend, being mostly themed around self-improvement and motivation, including The Ranveer Show, On Purpose with Jay Shetty, TED Talks Daily, Sadhguru, 7 Good Minutes Daily Self-Improvement, among others. There is also a healthy dose of comedy with some of the more popular podcasts being Simple Ken, VIEWS with David Dobrik and Jason Nash, Office Ladies, Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend and The Misfits Podcast. Additionally, recent times have seen users streaming News, Health & Fitness and Kids & Family content, as well as podcasts with the words “cooking” or “recipes” in the title or description.

    “Creating high quality podcasts is a relatively new phenomenon in India, and at Spotify, we are keen to work with committed creators and production houses to bring relevant, local content for not only listeners in India, but also for our millions of users across 78 other markets. We’ve already worked with over 20 creators for Spotify Original podcasts in India, and have brought global best practices to them, increasing operational and creative efficiencies”,  added Amarjit.

    Spotify has over one million podcast titles on the platform today. In India, the company already has several more original podcasts and subsequent seasons of successful podcasts lined up over the remaining year.

  • Spotify to celebrate top female artists this International Women’s Day

    Spotify to celebrate top female artists this International Women’s Day

    MUMBAI: To celebrate women artists across the globe, Spotify is creating its first-ever ‘International Women’s Day Global Campaign”, which will honour female voices in the audio industry by putting the spotlight on the female artists reigning on the platform. The campaign will be supported by hashtags like #musicneedswomen, #podcastsneedwomen, and #audioneedswomen. 

    Elaborating the idea behind the campaign, Spotify shared in a press statement that in the US  25 per cent of the women say they’re often the only woman in a recording studio and less than 1 per cent of the charted songs were written by women only. “While these are numbers from the US (highlighted in Spotify commissioned USC Annenberg’s third annual report on the music industry), statistics across the world, including India, are likely to be similar,” read the statement. 

    Highlighting the top female voices in India on its platform, Spotify shared that singer Neha Kakkar takes the number one spot, with Saki Saki (Batla House), The Hook Up Song (SOTY2), and Hauli Hauli (De De Pyaar De) being her most popular tracks. She has currently over 3.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Following her are Shreya Ghoshal, Asees Kaur, Dhvani Bhanushali, and Tulsi Kumari. 

    Globally, Billy Eilish of the Bad Guy fame reigns not only female artists but is also the top artist of this year. Eilish has more than 10.3 billion all-time streams, and more than 60 million monthly listeners. Taylor Swift is up second, followed by Ariana Grande, Halsey, and Camila Cabello. 

  • Spotify launches year-end marketing campaign ‘Well Played India’

    Spotify launches year-end marketing campaign ‘Well Played India’

    MUMBAI: Nearly 10 days ago, Spotify announced the local version of its very popular, global Wrapped campaign, where app users across countries could see the top artists, tracks, albums, and more that they listened to on the platform. To amplify the impact of this consumer engaging campaign, Spotify is now running ‘Well Played India’, a marketing campaign across TV, outdoor, and digital, to celebrate how Indians listened to music through 2019. The essence of this campaign is to highlight the biggest music streaming trends across the country, based on cultural and seasonal moments of listening. 

    What differentiates this campaign from Spotify’s previous marketing campaigns here is that ‘Well Played India’ at its core, is powered by data, and an ode to India’s growing passion for music, transitioning from a recreational experience, to a more integral part of the daily social fabric across user moods and moments. The localised theme of the campaign is designed to build relevance with the local users, who have not experienced Spotify Wrapped, but have been listening to music and podcasts on Spotify since its launch in India earlier this year. So far, over 100 artists, and more than 11,000 users have shared their Wrapped cards on social media, with the maximum search volume for #SpotifyWrapped coming from Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Delhi and Karnataka. Beyond users and artists, brands and influencers also joined in the Wrapped fun – right from Netflix and BuzzFeed India, to Boscia and Akshar Pathak.

    ‘‘Spotify Wrapped is unlike any other campaign, and is designed to celebrate the user’s intimate relationship with music. Born through data and powered by the user’s innate passion to explore music, the campaign at its core reflects our value in audio discovery and how we are bringing alive newer music journeys and sounds everyday. “Well played” is a commonly used phrase between friends and family in conversations, and we used it to create relatability to what the Wrapped campaign stands for. Right from users to artists, we’ve seen the sharing of Wrapped cards kick off, and hope that this campaign drives more consumption and sharing,” said Spotify India marketing head Neha Ahuja. 

    The ‘Well Played India’ campaign specifically highlights four key moments of the year and what Spotify users listened to the most, during these moments. Right from ‘Diwali cooking’ to ‘post Diwali workout’, and from the ‘wedding season’ to the ‘traffic’ season that comes along with the weddings, the brand campaign depicts how every situation was accompanied by music.

    The campaign features two TVCs, 25 digital creatives across online and social media platforms, and 15 OOH creatives highlighting culturally relevant audio trends, through the end of the year.

    For the entire Wrapped experience, Spotify users can navigate to spotify.com/wrapped for an eye-catching visualization of their 2019 year in music.

  • Spotify invests in 3 original podcasts for Indian market

    Spotify invests in 3 original podcasts for Indian market

    MUMBAI: Opening new opportunities for the growing creator community in India, Spotify has announced three original podcasts for the country, which will go live on the platform on 3 December. Tapping into pop culture, cricket centric ‘22 Yarns with Gaurav Kapur’, fiction thriller ‘Bhaskar Bose’ narrated by Mantra, and love and relationship advice-based ‘Love Aaj Kal’ by Aastha & Ankit, Spotify is looking forward to strengthen its position within the market.

    The announcement comes as a reiteration to Spotify’s global audio-first strategy that focuses on the brand’s potential to grow faster with more original podcasts. As with music artists, Spotify aims to offer better discovery, data, and monetization to podcast creators.

    Spotify marketing director—India Amarjit Singh Batra said, “Storytelling is intrinsic to India, and almost nostalgic because most of us have grown on stories that our grandparents and parents told us; Spotify wants to re-establish that listening culture here, especially as users seek more screen-free moments. We are so happy to partner with these talented storytellers who’ve managed to explore different aspects of the local culture to deliver differentiated content and rekindle the love Indians have for audio.”

    With over 500,000 podcast titles on the platform, up from 10,000 in 2018, Spotify has seen exponential growth in the podcast hours streamed globally (up approximately 39 per cent from Q2 2019 to Q3 2019), with podcast adoption reaching almost 14 per cent of total monthly active users (MAUs). And while the U.S. accounts for the largest share of podcast streams, a majority of the growth and listening is now coming from outside the U.S.

    “Just a little over one year ago, we announced Spotify for Podcasters, which provides listener insights to all creators who have podcasts on our platform. Today, we have 140,000 registered creators across the world, on the platform, and the data for a few of these creators shows that India features in their top streamed markets. Much of this content is lifestyle, educational, and news,” added Batra.

    India features in the all-time top 3 streaming markets for tech show Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast, and for On Purpose with Jay Shetty, a show that’s been number 1 on Spotify’s India podcast chart since the time of launch. The country is also currently in the top ten streaming markets for TED Talks Daily and The Mindset Mentor. Other globally acclaimed podcasts such as Stuff You Should Know, and BBC’s Global News Podcast are also in the top 20 most streamed podcasts in India. Interestingly, local charts showcase 60 per cent of the top 10 podcasts on Spotify are on self-motivation-based lifestyle content.

    Globally, Spotify has invested in new original podcasts in the US, Europe, and South America. In June this year, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground, announced a partnership with Spotify to produce podcasts exclusive to the platform. The acquisitions of podcast networks Gimlet, and Parcast, and creator platform Anchor have also enabled the company to invest in high-quality content as well as providing an easy way for creators to record a podcast, respectively. In fact, the Sandeep Maheshwari podcast is an example of how Indian creators can leverage Anchor to create their content. 

  • Spotify premium family plan now in India

    Spotify premium family plan now in India

    MUMBAI: Spotify has announced the availability of its highly popular Premium Family plan in India, giving users more ways to enjoy and share audio content as a family. Priced at INR 179 per month, this plan gives family members living under one roof more choices to customize music streaming and podcasts, with an unparalleled ad-free, on-demand music listening experience. Users will have access to 450,000 podcast titles and 50 million tracks / songs — creating endless possibilities for family members to choose the beat that matches their mood.

    With Spotify Premium Family plan, listeners get:

    Individual Accounts: With up to six accounts per family, everyone gets to play their own music and podcasts.
    Premium For Everyone: Everyone on the plan gets the full Spotify Premium experience. Save and play music offline (no-data required) on up to three devices per Premium account. Play any song or audio content, anytime, on any device. No restrictions. No ads. 
    Priced For Your Family: Music and podcasts at your fingertips have never been this convenient; priced at INR 179.
    Super Simple Bill: One monthly bill sent to the master account holder, for the entire family.

    Globally, Spotify recently upgraded its Premium Family plan, so subscribers in India will also have the added advantage of: 

    Parental Controls: A long-requested feature on Community boards, parents will be able to control the Explicit Content Filter setting for music for all other accounts on their plan. 

    Family Mix: Families will get exclusive access to a personalized playlist packed with songs the whole family enjoys. Family Mix is updated regularly and you can control who is in each session to optimize your family’s favourite shared listening moments. Whether it’s on the morning commute, cooking dinner, or family time on weekends, Family Mix brings the tastes of your whole family together.
    Family Hub: Billing users can manage their Family’s settings in one place, including adding or removing family members, keeping your home address up to date, and adjusting your parental controls.

    “At a time where parents are trying to reduce screen time for both themselves and their family, we’re creating more ways for families to bond over music together, while still celebrating individual tastes and giving parents more control if they want it.” said Alex Norström, Chief Premium Business Officer, Spotify. 

    “Spotify’s Premium Family plan has been loved across markets, and we know that our users in India wanted it when we launched in February. Family time and recreation are a core part of our culture, and we want users to discover new music and podcasts through their family, without compromising on their personal taste and app experience. We are thrilled to bring this subscription tier to the country” added Amarjit Batra, Managing Director – India, Spotify.

    Since its launch in 2014, Spotify Premium Family has seen incredible growth with millions of subscribers in more than 60 countries around the world. 

  • Spotify’s Sunte Ja hits the high note with Indian consumers

    Spotify’s Sunte Ja hits the high note with Indian consumers

    MUMBAI: Spotify India’s first multi-lingual national TV-led campaign ‘Sunte Ja’ has struck a chord with consumers in the country with its strategic media mix of TV, OOH and Digital. This campaign follows Spotify’s first geo-localised and hyper-contextualised marketing campaign ‘There’s A Playlist For That’. Featuring Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Ishaan Khattar, the current campaign is built on the insight that music is in the social fabric of all we do – right from daily experiences to special moments.

    The campaign’s creative digital activations generated 3 billion impressions, and digital amplification of the TVC and native films have garnered 350+ million views since its launch. 

    As a part of the campaign, a total of 4 TVCs in Hindi, Telugu, and Marathi, aired across 75+ GEC, movies and English cluster channels, as well as a few regional ones. 

    To get people talking (and streaming) even more, Spotify launched an artist-led OOH campaign where names of popular tracks were synchronised to create quirky one liners that appeal to the audience’s emotions and sentiments. The 100+ OOH billboards also featured artists who sang those tracks, including Amit Trivedi, Badshah, Armaan Malik, Diljit Dosanjh, Vishal & Shekhar, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nucleya, Shanker Ehsan Loy, Salim Sulaiman, Jonita Gandhi, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Kate Perry, Alan Walker and Shawn Mendes. Recognising key factors such as visibility, a larger creative canvas, being less intrusive, and an effective capture of off-screen time, Spotify used OOH as a pivotal media for ATL communication as part of its larger media strategy across metros and regional markets.

    In addition to TV, the ‘Sunte Ja’ campaign also leveraged digital channels to integrate Spotify’s value proposition of its wide music library, on social media. Spotify took Antakshari, a game so culturally ingrained in India and gave it a modern-day twist, garnering 8100 engagements and reaching 4.1 million people. Spotify also released  six digital films – Chill Karo, Bae, Calm Down, Happy To Be Home, Bollywood Mush and Focus Now – that visually represent everyday millennial struggles and music as the background score in those situations. Viewed over 3.5 million times, the films resonated well with the audience. 

    The TV ads were also amplified across digital platforms – Slow Breakfast, What’s in the Age, What’s the score? and ‘K’ Pops, which highlighted that users have access to the latest music and uninterrupted background play. In fact, K-Pops, a film created for India’s K-Pop community used ‘Boy with Luv’ by BTS as the soundtrack, led to unprecedented engagement. #AnilKapoor trended in India for his “cool dad” role in the film, resulting in the BTS Army accepting him as one of their own. The film crossed over 1 million views on social media in just 12 hours and received 63k engagements– comparable to Bollywood film trailers in the same time period.