How to Advertise on Spotify: Ad Formats, Programmatic Buying Through DV360 and Adform

Table of contents:

• Introduction

• Why Spotify Deserves a Line in Your Media Budget

• What You Get: Audio, Video, and Display Ad Formats

• The Spotify Ad Exchange: Programmatic Access to 675 Million Listeners

• Running Spotify Ads Through DV360

• Running Spotify Ads Through Adform

• DV360 vs. Adform for Spotify: A Quick Comparison

• Getting Started

Introduction

Most digital ad budgets still flow into the same two places: search and social feeds. Meanwhile, 751 million people open Spotify every month to listen. Not scroll. Not multitask between tabs. Listen.

Spotify hit 751 million monthly active users in Q4 2025, adding a record 38 million in a single quarter. Around 60% of those users are on the free, ad-supported tier, which means advertisers have access to a massive, logged-in audience that expects ads as part of the experience. Research shows that combining audio and video formats on Spotify generates a 90% lift in ad recall and 2.2 times higher brand awareness. Those numbers are hard to find on any other single platform.

What changed recently is how advertisers buy that inventory. Spotify launched its Ad Exchange (SAX) in April 2025, opening real-time programmatic access through DV360, The Trade Desk, and Magnite, with Adform and Yahoo DSP added soon after. That means Spotify is no longer a standalone media buy. It fits directly into your programmatic stack.

This article covers what Spotify offers advertisers across audio, video, and display formats, and how to access that inventory programmatically through DV360 and Adform.

Why Spotify Deserves a Line in Your Media Budget

A user opens Spotify during a morning run. Earbuds in, screen off, full attention on audio. An hour later, the same user browses playlists at a desk, screen active, eyes on the app. These are two different ad environments on the same platform, and Spotify treats them differently.

That context-awareness separates Spotify from most ad channels. Spotify's algorithm detects whether a user is actively looking at the app or listening with the screen off, serving audio ads only during screenless moments and video ads only when the screen is in focus. This means no wasted video impressions on a locked phone and no audio ads competing with visual attention.

The audience composition adds another dimension. Spotify's user base grew 11% year over year, with particularly strong traction among Gen Z. Video engagement on Spotify jumped 44% year over year, and 81% for Gen Z specifically. For brands targeting younger demographics, those engagement rates outpace what most display networks deliver.

Spotify users also spend serious time on the platform. The average user streams roughly 114 minutes of audio per day, with premium subscribers averaging 142 minutes. That daily attention window creates repeated opportunities to reach the same listener across formats without the frequency fatigue that comes with banner-heavy environments.

The advertising model reinforces all of this. Free-tier users accept ads as the cost of access. They do not skip past them the way they might ignore a banner or close a pop-up. The combination of audio and video ads on Spotify has been shown to increase purchase intent by 27% and incremental sales by 66% compared to audio-only campaigns.

What You Get: Audio, Video, and Display Ad Formats

Spotify offers three core ad format categories. Each targets a different listening context and user behavior, and choosing the right mix depends on the moment you want to reach.

Audio ads are the foundation. These 15 to 30 second spots play between songs during screenless listening sessions. Spotify provides a free audio ad creation tool where advertisers write a script, select a voice actor, add performance notes, and receive a produced spot, with re-recordings until the advertiser is satisfied. For brands without in-house audio production, this lowers the barrier to entry significantly. Spotify also introduced Gen AI Ads, allowing advertisers to produce customizable audio spots at no additional cost, currently available in the US and Canada.

Video ads come in two flavors. Video Takeover plays with sound between songs when the user's screen is active, delivering a full-screen, sound-on experience. In-Feed Video appears alongside music content as the user browses playlists or the home screen. Since Spotify only serves video when the app is in focus, viewability rates run higher than typical display or social video placements.

Display ads appear as companion banners alongside audio content or as overlay units within the browsing experience. They function as clickable placements that drive traffic to landing pages, app stores, or branded content.

The formats work best in combination. Running audio-only campaigns delivers strong recall, but layering video and display on top creates a compounding effect across the funnel. Spotify's Ads Manager allows advertisers to build campaigns that mix formats, though each ad set requires choosing either audio or video as the primary creative, making format strategy a decision that needs to happen before launch.

The Spotify Ad Exchange: Programmatic Access to 751 Million Listeners

Until 2025, buying Spotify inventory required working through Spotify's direct sales team or its self-serve Ads Manager. Both approaches kept Spotify isolated from the broader programmatic ecosystem. The Spotify Ad Exchange changed that.

SAX brings real-time auction-based buying to Spotify, giving advertisers access to audio, video, and display inventory through their preferred DSP. The exchange supports addressability through UID 2.0 from The Trade Desk, PAIR from DV360, and RampID from LiveRamp, which means advertisers bring their own audience data into Spotify buys rather than relying solely on Spotify's targeting.

Buying options include open auction, private marketplace (PMP), and programmatic guaranteed deals. Music inventory is live across all three deal types. Spotify has also announced that starting in 2026, podcast publishers on its Megaphone platform will sell PMP deals through SAX, expanding the exchange into podcast inventory.

Open auction is available in 37 markets, and PMP is live in 16, covering the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, India, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico. SAX is currently integrated with over 30 DSPs, with DV360 and Adform among the most active partners.

For advertisers already running programmatic campaigns through a DSP, SAX removes the friction of managing Spotify as a separate channel. Frequency caps, audience targeting, and reporting all flow through the same platform used for the rest of the media plan.

Running Spotify Ads Through DV360

DV360 was among the first DSPs to integrate with the Spotify Ad Exchange. The integration supports audio, video, and display formats across Spotify's music inventory, with podcast placements expected to follow.

The technical connection runs through Google's PAIR (Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation) protocol. PAIR enables advertisers to match first-party data with Spotify's logged-in user base in a privacy-safe environment, without exposing raw user data on either side. For DV360 advertisers already using first-party audience segments from GA4 or Customer Match, this extends those same segments into Spotify inventory.

What makes DV360 particularly strong for Spotify buying is the campaign management layer. Spotify impressions sit inside the same DV360 campaign structure as display, YouTube, CTV, and native placements. Frequency management works across all channels, preventing the overexposure that happens when Spotify runs as a siloed buy. Attribution through Campaign Manager 360 tracks Spotify impressions alongside every other touchpoint in the media plan.

DV360 also gives buyers access to Spotify through open auction and PMP deals. Programmatic guaranteed access is available for advertisers who want reserved inventory at fixed rates. For brands running large-scale campaigns across audio and video, DV360 provides the widest buying flexibility on Spotify while keeping everything inside a single reporting environment.

Running Spotify Ads Through Adform

Adform completed its direct integration into the Spotify Ad Exchange in late 2025, making Spotify's audio, video, and display inventory available within Adform FLOW, the platform's campaign planning and activation workspace.

The integration positions Adform as a strong option for European advertisers in particular. Both companies are European technology firms, and their combined local market expertise gives agencies operating in EU markets a more tailored programmatic path into Spotify inventory. Adform supports GDPR-compliant buying workflows natively, which matters for brands with strict data governance requirements.

Through the Campaign Planner within Adform FLOW, advertisers plan, activate, and optimize Spotify campaigns across audio, video, and display without leaving the Adform ecosystem. The programmatic setup removes the minimum spend requirements that apply to Spotify's direct buys, giving brands greater flexibility in budget allocation and campaign scale.

Adform's DSP supports audio alongside display, video, CTV, and digital out-of-home formats. For agencies already running omnichannel campaigns through Adform, adding Spotify fits into the existing workflow without operational overhead.

DV360 vs. Adform for Spotify: A Quick Comparison

Both DSPs give advertisers programmatic access to Spotify, but they serve different needs. The following table highlights where each platform delivers the strongest value for Spotify campaigns:

DV360 delivers the deepest integration for advertisers who already operate within Google's measurement and attribution stack. The ability to unify Spotify impressions with YouTube, search, and display data in a single attribution model gives cross-channel buyers an advantage that Adform does not replicate.

Adform fits agencies and brands that prioritize European market coverage, GDPR-native infrastructure, and a transparent, independent DSP environment. For teams already running campaigns through Adform FLOW, adding Spotify is operationally seamless.

Getting Started

Spotify inventory is now accessible programmatically, but getting campaigns live still requires the right setup. If you are buying through DV360, access runs through Google Marketing Platform, and most advertisers work with a certified partner or reseller. Ad Geeks operates as a DV360 reseller with hands-on experience activating Spotify campaigns across audio, video, and display formats. From account setup to deal activation, the team handles the technical side so your campaigns go live without delays. Get in touch to check eligibility and start running Spotify ads through DV360 and Adform.