Brian Berner recently joined Evan Dulaney and Andrea Book on an episode of Breakfast First to discuss the latest platform and advertising developments that have been happening at Spotify.

1. Spotify’s Head of N.A.
Advertising Sales,
Brian Berner,
Shares New Platform
Insights on Empower’s
‘Breakfast First’ Podcast
BrianBernerSpotify.com

2. Brian Berner recently joined Evan
Dulaney and Andrea Book on an
episode of Breakfast First to discuss
the latest platform and advertising
developments that have been
happening at Spotify.
He begins the interview with an overview of his role at Spotify, which
gives the listener some context into the insights he will discuss
throughout the episode. Brian Berner oversees advertising sales and
partnerships throughout all of the United States and Canada. He
manages a large team that offers creative solutions for clients and
marketers looking to reach their intended audience through audio and
visual aids.

3. According to Berner, Spotify’s
ambition has always been to be the
world’s largest audio platform. In
the past, their offerings were
primarily music-focused, but now
they’ve begun expanding into
podcasting as well.
Below are some of the insights
Berner brings up over the
course of the podcast. If you’d
like to listen to the whole
interview, you can find the full
episode here.

4. Content and advertising:
a delicate balancing act
At one point, Andrea asks Brian Berner how Spotify balances their
advertisements so as not to annoy the listener. In his response, Berner points
out that one of the best things about their platform is that they are truly one
of the only freemium/premium streaming services. If users want to opt out of
ads altogether, they can pay a small fee every month.
BRIANBERNERSPOTIFY.COM
Yet, despite the ability to easily switch to Spotify Premium, free users still
make up the majority of their audience base. Berner says this is because their
consumers understand that having access to unlimited content comes means
that they are willing to listen to short ads for the benefit of their own
entertainment. This is also because the ads that Spotify serves their users are
personalized to their unique preferences. Brian Berner and his team are
constantly doing A/B testing to analyze their user’s receptiveness and
happiness levels when hearing ads. And their users are still only hearing a
third less ads than that of other streaming services.

5. Pros of
Spotify
exclusivity
When asked about why certain
creatives would want to be exclusively
on Spotify, Brian Berner explained the
benefits from a creator standpoint.
BrianBernerSpotify.com
With podcasting, a user can download
a podcast to their computer or
smartphone and listen to it whenever
they want. The only problem is that it
sits in a black box. You don’t know
who is listening to it or where they’re
located — all important information
to guide content creation. But Spotify
gives creators tools that allow them to
see insights like the gender, age, and
location of their listeners, as well as
when listeners are the most likely to
play a new episode.

6. This data guides a
creator’s editorial
strategy.
They can see what episodes
are performing better than
others and use this to inspire
future episodes.
It can always help
them understand what
release dates would
lead to an increased
number of listeners,
which is great for their
platform.

7. A roadmap
forward
To conclude the episode, Andrea and Evan were interested
in learning more about Spotify’s roadmap for the future. For
advertising, Brian Berner noted that one of their prominent
focuses will be teaching clients about more effective audio
creation. This will include workshops, tutorials, and other
resources that detail how a marketer can make their
advertisements stand out.
BRIANBERNERSPOTIFY.COM

8. Berner also states that
agility and flexibility will
be the new currency for
advertisers. It’s important
that clients have more
control over when they
turn their campaigns on or
off. It will be beneficial for
advertisers to be able to
swap out creatives, like in
the case of a crisis or
perhaps a fun play off of
something that’s
happening in society at the
moment.
For the consumer, Berner notes a few
exciting updates. As they expand their
podcast reach, Spotify continues to
acquire notable platforms like Ringer
and Gimlet. Consumers can also
expect to see more personalization in
their playlists, podcasts, and
advertisements, like what they’ve
been doing with Discover Weekly.