Spotify teams up with The Trade Desk on programmatic audio in Asia

SINGAPORE - Spotify is making its audio inventory available to programmatic buyers in Asia-Pacific via a new deal with The Trade Desk.

The service launched after a beta where users were targeted with audio, video and display ads based on their listening habits and demographics.

Matt Harty, the company's senior vice president, Asia, said launch customers included brands in Australia and Southeast Asia, but he declined to name them.

"Digital music is a great platform for consumers as it delivers mobility and the ability to curate your own experience,”Harty said. “These elements lead seamlessly to the precision targeting nature of programmatic advertising. As a result, we believe audio will make one of the fastest transitions to programmatic of any medium we have seen.”

Spotify said the partnership with The Trade Desk was part of its plans to give brands the tools to create more meaningful marketing.

“As our listeners are generally a lean-forward group, they are engaged with the music and are always searching, discovering new music and curating playlists," said Joanna Wong, head of business marketing, Spotify, APAC. "We are constantly looking at ways to keep our listeners engaged, even with an audio advertisement." 

Globally, the music streaming company has deals with Rubicon Project, App Nexus and The Trade Desk to make its audio inventory available through exchanges.

According to Harty, this is the first breakout step in programmatic that moves beyond banners and online video. “We’ll be adding more programmatic components down the line, including outdoor and TV. This goes hand-in-hand with the way people are changing their user behaviour,” he told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Speaking about the benefits of audio advertising, he said it is much more of a top-of-funnel advertising format. “You’re able to deliver more of an emotive content, and that’s got to do with the staggering reach that Spotify has.”

Harty said advertisers can look forward to both video-like and banner-centric metrics such as completion rate.

Spotify arrived in the region in 2013 and began building its footprint, launching in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong before expanding to Taiwan and Philippines in April 2014. The company launched in Indonesia this March and recently rolled out its offering in Japan. Spotify’s latest figures state that the service has over 100 million active users and 30 million paying subscribers.