Spotify Opens Its “On Repeat” Playlist for Sponsorship

Spotify listeners have been appreciating its “On Repeat” playlist, featuring their favorite songs by the number of plays. Now this playlist becomes a place for ads. Or, as Spotify puts it, for sponsorship. Now brands can put their audio ads there and reach the free listeners through. The idea utilizes the fact that millions of users are using Spotify for free, in radio mode, relying on AI-based selection of tracks and agreeing to hear ads once in a while.

“On Repeat” playlist was introduced in 2019. It contains the tracks the user has been listening to the most often during the latest 30 days. Being a smart playlist, it updates automatically, updating the stats and thus dynamically catering to the users’ tastes. This approach turned out to be successful: since its launch, it’s been played around 12 billion times. It also helped intensify the overall usage of Spotify.

Now that “On Repeat” has become a solid advertising spot, audio ads other from those by Spotify itself are already heard there (unless you are a premium user). The first advertiser is TurboTax, a company specializing in personal tax assistance and expertise. The idea they exploit in ads is that taxing (just like music) is always personal and thus requires personal approach. In fact, TurboTax itself uses that unique profiling tool that Spotify is.

The “On Repeat” playlist gets sponsored in all the countries where Spotify legally operates. Local advertisers can access the data and not only place their audios on the playlist, but also adjust it to the user’s profile, given the music they listen to. Aside from provided formal profile details, opera lovers, rock fans, and techno enthusiasts probably have different lifestyle and consumer preferences, right? Music-based ad profiling becomes the next big thing for Spotify and maybe for other players as well. But as long as it delivers great tracks we love, it sounds okay.