Spotify launches interactive ads to buy directly from podcasts

Over the past year, Spotify has focused efforts on introducing novel tools that allow content creators to interact more directly with their audiences, such as video podcasts, polls, and question-and-answer sessions.

Now, the streaming service has opted to create a new advertising experience for podcasts called call-to-action (CTA) cards, which will appear on the screen as soon as an ad plays during an episode.

It is an interactive advertising format that seeks to make it easier for users to discover products and services directly from a program, without the need to remember a specific “promotion code or URL”.

Advertisers have the ability to personalize these cards with their own images, text, and other buttons that listeners can click to visit the brand’s website and make a purchase or other desired action.

The company noted that its tests have shown twice the number of visits to web pages with this new interactive tool compared to podcast ads that are not clickable.

“We think of these cards as an important step toward modernizing the format, which will become more capable over time,” said Jay Richman, Spotify’s head of Ads Business & Platform, during a virtual conference call at CES 2022.

The new CTA cards are now available on “original and exclusive” podcast shows in the United States. The feature is expected to roll out later in other regions of the world.