One of the main differentiations between paid subscribers and free users of Spotify has been the ad-free experience that paying customers get to enjoy. Now, it looks free users may also be getting that luxury with Spotify’s new ‘Active Media’ feature which has just been rolled out for testing in Australia.
The new feature will allow users to skip an unlimited number of audio or video ads which should allow for Spotify to better tailor ads towards users. Spotify’s Global Head of Partner Solutions Danielle Lee hypothesizes that in doing so, Spotify’s ad-partners would be better served. “Just as we create these personalized experiences like Discover Weekly, and the magic that brings to our consumers, we want to inject that concept into the advertising experience.” Advertisers would not have to pay for ads that were skipped as well under ‘Active Media.’
Spotify also provided the following statement to Pitchfork.
Spotify has a global advertising business that enables marketers and brands to reach audiences in 65 markets around the world. We launched Active Media, skippable audio and video ads, in Australia for now and will consider expanding to additional markets in the future. We are committed to our freemium model and will continue innovating our products to ensure the best experience on both our free and premium tiers.
There is no indication just yet of when ‘Active Media’ will be rolled out worldwide.
H/T: Pitchfork
