For the first time, Spotify is letting brands sponsor the music streaming firm’s owned and operated playlists.
Initially, 25 or some 400 official Spotify playlists will be open for sponsorships.
Under the new format, ads will be served in sponsored playlists as normal, although the first ad break will go to the sponsor, which will also receive category exclusivity.
Sponsorships will be sold for a week at a time.
In a pilot test in April Kia sponsored New Music Friday to introduce its new Kia Sportage.
Kia promoted the Sportage to users as they discovered new music throughout the week.
Spotify claims the “results have been outstanding, both in terms of audience engagement and brand impact.”
Some of Spotify’s playlists have millions of followers.
Here are a few that are now available for sponsorship:
Listeners who use the free service have to listen to ads.
Those who pay the $9.99 monthly fee are not served ads and will not see the sponsors.
Read more about the new Spotify sponsorships here.