VIEQUES, PR – If you think of music choices as a mirror as opposed to a filter, you can learn a lot about listeners. And you can serve them tailored ads as they “declare” key moments throughout a typical day.
Streaming music provider Spotify has no shortage of insights that define its users, as the company’s Head of Video Sales, Brian Danzis, explains in this interview with Beet.TV. Foremost among the tools for understanding what Spotify users are doing and feeling is their persistent identity.
With a user base that’s 100% logged in, there is “no opportunity for fraud on our platform, ever,” Danzis says during a break at the recent Beet.TV Executive Retreat titled Video Everywhere! The Transformation of Media & Advertising.
Always on the lookout for new metrics that are unique to particular users, Spotify sees things on a continuum—from people who prefer the music the company programs for them to those who prefer a la carte selections, and everyone in between.
“These people are very different and we’re learning a lot about what those differences and behaviors are,” says Danzis.
Another metric is discovery, meaning whether users opt for tunes most familiar to them or whether they delight in finding new artists and use Spotify playlists to discover them. Then there is diversity, as expressed through the exploration of new types of cultures and genres, according to Danzis.
Having introduced its video advertising formats two years ago, Spotify “was in a unique position to not have to retrofit our ads to meet the needs of our customers” who were concerned about viewability, he adds. Spotify’s mid-roll ad units, consisting of video takeovers on both desktop and mobile, are served at key points in between songs, “only when an ad is in focus, so we know someone is looking at it,” Danzis says.
Each mid-roll video is billed to advertisers based on Moat’s Human, Audible, Viewable on Complete guidelines, meaning videos are viewable not just a the start or in the middle but upon completion.
This video is part of a series produced at the Beet.TV Executive Retreat in Vieques. The event and series is presented by Videology and 605. For more videos from the series, please visit this page.
