Music streaming service, Spotify, announced on Thursday that it will open up its podcast advertising network to five new countries, including Sweden and India.
The Spotify Audience Network, which was initially introduced in 2021, allows podcast publishers and artists to monetarily support their work in nine countries, including the US and Germany.
Spotify is concentrating on increasing the format’s ad revenue after spending more than $1 billion to develop its podcast business, which now has 5 million titles and 100 million listeners.
“We often hear from our customers that they have been reticent to invest in podcasts because of the lack of audience targeting and challenges reaching podcast listeners at scale,” Brian Berner, global head of advertising sales at Spotify, said.
Spotify has been on consistent growth. The company’s advertising revenue in the most recent third quarter increased by 16% over the same period last year, with double-digit growth in podcast advertising revenue.
