Omnicom and Spotify: Partnership for Podcasts
Spotify and Omnicom Media Group (OMG) are entering into a podcast advertising partnership. Spotify's largest European marketing cooperation to date is worth €15 million.
The relevance of podcast advertising in Europe has increased sharply recently: According to eMarketer 70 million people in the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy will have listened to podcasts by 2021. Through the new partnership, OMG agency clients such as Hearts & Science, OMD and PHD across Europe will lead the next era of podcast advertising - supported by Spotify's podcast advertising technology and streaming intelligence.
In addition, OMG will be the first marketer in Europe to gain access to new podcast advertising formats and selected original and exclusive content, giving it the opportunity to create exclusive incentives for its advertising clients.
Strongly growing audio segment
Omnicom Media Group manages around €35 billion in global advertising spend each year. The holding company's customers include PepsiCo, Chanel, Volkswagen GroupM, AT&T, HSBC, Activision, McDonald's and State Farm. As the world's most popular audio streaming platform with a dedicated global listenership of 422 million people, Spotify has the reach and innovative ad technology to further expand audio advertising
Initially, the partnership will be rolled out with a focus on France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. There is an option to expand into other European markets at a later date. In addition, OMG will focus on the Analysis tools from Podsights once this service is launched in Europe. Both partners are also working on a joint agenda that will address topics such as creative audio performance, neuro-research for audio advertising, especially for OMG clients, and the role of podcasts in increasing listener attention and engagement.
Advertising impact of podcasts becomes more measurable
"The number of podcast listeners in Europe continues to grow, so now is exactly the right time to strengthen such an important partnership," emphasizes Rak Patel, Head of EMEA Enterprise Ad Sales at Spotify. "By sharing Spotify's reach and our extensive range of advertising formats with OMG's clients, we will be able to better unleash creativity in addressing diverse audiences. In addition, we will be able to better measure podcast advertising impact as well as listener:brand interaction."
This partnership follows recent Spotify acquisitions of Podsights and Chartable: Podsights helps advertisers better measure and scale their podcast advertising. Chartable is a podcast analytics platform that enables publishers to better understand and analyze their podcast audience to expand reach.
In 2021, Spotify's annual advertising revenue exceeded 1 billion euros for the first time. In the first quarter of 2022, Spotify's advertising revenue increased 31 percent to €282 million, the largest first quarterly ad-supported revenue result ever.
