Spotify Market Analysis Report

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A Market Analysis for
Spotify USA
Caitlyn Brumley
Full Sail University
Project & Portfolio II: Business and Marketing
09/26/2021

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This analysis report looks over Spotify Technology SA’s subsidiary, Spotify USA, and the plan
to recreate a marketing strategy. Spotify USA has become one of the most popular streaming
service in the country. The newest segment, Spotify Podcasts, has attained over 28 million
monthly active listeners with a 200% listening increase for YoY in 2019. Today, the company is
looking for a way to keep the momentum increasing with podcast listeners. The report includes
recommendations on how the company could engage with a specific target audience and
marketing tactics to bring more business and subscribers to the streaming service.

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OBJECTIVE
This report was gathered to answer a couple of questions for Spotify, regarding their
newest segment, Spotify Podcasts. They need assistance in creating a plan to consistently
increase the momentum of the active listeners. The company should look to update their market
strategies, along with creating a new customer outreach plan. The appropriate social media
platforms will need to be the highlight of this new market strategy.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The information found in this report was compiled from several external, but reputable
sources. The company’s internal data was also used. During the month of September 2021, this
information was compiled to form this report. The sources range from 2018 to 2021.
RESEARCH AND KEY FINDINGS
Five years after Spotify Technology SA was founded, the parent company launched its
subsidiary, Spotify USA, in 2011. Co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek, started this small business in
Sweden. Spotify USA found its home in the One World Trade Center building in New York
City. The music industry was being struck by a piracy problem, so Spotify was developed as a
potential solution (BBC, 2018).

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The company offers a streaming service subscription that includes over 70 million music
tracks and more than 2.9 million podcast titles. The company is one of the most popular places to
listen to podcasts, resulting
in a 200% listening increase
YoY on 2019. (Spotify, n.d.).
Apple and Spotify have
been surpassing one another
for years now. In fact,
Spotify will now lead in monthly podcast listeners with 28.2 million, while Apple falls shortly
behind with 28.0 million. The lead is projected to widen as time goes on. (Lebow, 2021).
CONCLUSIONS
Spotify brings in a young audience by streaming podcasts on their service. Half of all
podcast listeners in the US are between the ages of 12 and 34. (Kaufer, 2021). The company will
need to look to this specific demographic to keep the momentum of the monthly active listeners
increasing. The younger audience tends to lean more towards TikTok and Instagram than any
other social media platform. According to Statista, 68% of TikTok users in the US are under the
age of 39 and 70% of Instagram users in the US are below 34 years old. (Statista, 2021.) The
problem is, Spotify only uses these platforms to post entertaining videos and pictures of
influencers and celebrities. If the company used these popular social media platforms to push
podcast marketing, they could have a great chance of increasing the monthly active listeners.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the research findings and conclusion, Spotify will need to take advantage of the
marketing opportunity if the company wants to keep the momentum going. By analyzing the
social media platforms and the target market, Spotify will be able to plan and create amazing
marketing tactics that will potentially bring in more monthly listeners.
Teenagers and young adults do not like ads. They will more than likely skip through them or
not pay attention to them. So, the company will need to create exciting advertisements that
involve popular artists and influencers. An advertisement that features a well-known celebrity
talking about their favorite Spotify exclusive podcast will catch the attention of the young
audience and entice them to interact with the ad. A “celebrity-endorsed” video on their TikTok
or Instagram accounts will bring more awareness
to the podcasts on Spotify and in turn, increase
the momentum of monthly active users.
The company should push for a specific, yet
attainable goal. By this research, it could be
possible to aim for 34.5 million podcast listeners
by the end of 2022. Insider Intelligence has
projected for Spotify to grow from 28.2 million
to 33.1 million before 2023. So, with the new marketing strategies targeting a specific
demographic on TikTok and Instagram, the goal is attainable.

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REFERENCES
BBC. (2018, March 01). How Spotify came to be worth billions. BBC News.
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43240886
Fedewa, J. (2021). How to Subscribe to Podcasts on Spotify. Retrieved September 25, 2021,
from https://www.howtogeek.com/717860/how-to-subscribe-to-podcasts-on-spotify/
Kaufer, K. (2021, May 12). Who Listens to Podcasts (And How Can You Reach Them)? Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/05/12/who-listens-to-podcasts-
and-how-can-you-reach-them/?sh=75e564873e84
Lebow, S. (2021). Us Spotify Podcast Listeners, 2021-2025. Spotify poised to overtake Apple
Podcasts this year. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from
https://www.emarketer.com/content/spotify-poised-overtake-apple-podcasts-this-
year?ecid=NL1001
Published by Statista Research Department, & 7, J. (2021, June 7). Distribution of monthly active
TikTok users in the United States as of March 2021, by age group and gender. Statista.
Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095196/tiktok-us-
age-gender-reach/
Published by Statista Research Department, & 7, S. (2021, September 7). Distribution of
Instagram users worldwide as of July 2021, by age and gender. Statista. Retrieved
September 24, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/248769/age-distribution-of-
worldwide-instagram-users/
Spotify_Logo_CMKT_Green.png. (n.d.). Logo and Brand Assets. Retrieved September 25,
2021, from https://newsroom.spotify.com/media-kit/logo-and-brand-assets/

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Spotify for Podcasters. (n.d.). Spotify. Retrieved September 23, 2021, from
https://podcasters.spotify.com