Spotify’s New “Playlist Targeting” Lets Brands Segment Ad Audiences Based On Activities Or Moods

Using playlist data, brands will be able to choose from 15 different categories, including labels like “workout” or “chill.”

Amy Gesenhues on April 17, 2015

Spotify application
Starting May 1, brands will be able to target their Spotify campaigns based on user activity and moods.

Spotify’s new “Playlist targeting” ad platform uses data pulled from the site’s more than 1.5 billion playlists to create audience segments based on activities and moods associated to the music site’s playlists.

According to Spotify’s announcement, “Brands will be able to target unique audience segments based on streams from Spotify’s 1.5 billion-plus playlists, from workout enthusiasts and commuters to millennials, parents and more.”

Brands will be able to target unique audience segments based on streams from Spotify’s 1.5 billion-plus playlists, from workout enthusiasts and commuters to millennials, parents and more.

Spotify’s VP-North America advertising and partnerships Brian Benedik told Ad Age, “We’ve been able to aggregate this idea of launching playlists as a proxy for the activity or mood you’re in.”

In addition to targeting ads based on age, gender, location and device, Ad Age reports brands will be able to choose from 15 different activity or mood categories, including “workout,” “commute,” “party,” “happy,” “chill” or “sad.” The report goes on to say eight brands have already been part of Spotify’s beta testing for the new segments, but didn’t release any of the brands currently using it.

Since launching its first video ad product in Fall of last year, Spotify says it has generated a 53 percent increase in year-over-year ad revenue – with a 380 percent increase in year-over-year mobile ad revenue between Q1 2014 to Q1 2015.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.