Photo Credit: Cody Board
Spotify appears to be testing a skip ahead button for podcast ads, including ad spots that Spotify itself has sold. The move would let listeners jump past embedded ad breaks more easily, which is exactly the kind of control many Spotify Premium users have complained about—ads in a product paid not to have any.
Until now, Spotify Premium has removed ad breaks between music tracks, but not necessarily ads inside podcasts. That’s because many podcast creators have sponsorships and deliver the podcasts to Spotify with ads already embedded. Spotify’s own help materials mention this, stating that podcast ads, sponsorships, and host-read messages can still appear for Spotify Premium users.
Before Spotify pushed hard into podcasting in 2020, dedicated podcasting apps like PocketCasts already gave listeners customizable skip controls. PocketCasts allows users to set a forward jump length on its skip button, giving users granular control of how they avoid the ads included in their favorite podcasts. Now Spotify appears to be testing something similar, though it doesn’t appear to be as customizable as the apps Spotify’s massive marketshare has replaced.
PodNews was the first to report this development, though Spotify itself doesn’t seem keen on advertising the new feature just yet. They also question whether Spotify’s selling of ad inventory while offering listeners a skip button is ethical, considering Spotify sells ads on podcast inventory to be heard, not skipped.
Spotify appears to be taking note from user feedback and giving listeners a way to skip ahead through host-included ads—which also brings into question whether the embedded podcast sponsorship model will survive Spotify’s tinkering. Perhaps the biggest benefit for advertisers to releasing a podcast on Spotify was the inability to easily skip sponsored segments, unlike other dedicated podcasting apps. While Spotify Premium users may soon be happy with the ad skips, podcast creators and their sponsors may not be.
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