Spotify’s New Pivot: We’re a Big Video Creator Platform Now, Too

Spotify is doubling down on video, and bringing creators along for the ride.

The streaming giant opened doors of it’s Los Angeles campus located in the city’s Arts District on Wednesday for “Now Playing,” a five-hour, invite-only event during which plans for new video and monetization offerings and well as a new platform called Spotify for Creators were revealed and detailed by founder and CEO Daniel Ek and co-president, chief product and chief technology officer, Gustav Söderström. The company called the occasion “the biggest update to podcasts on Spotify ever.”

Spotify for Creators, an evolution from Spotify for Podcasters, will serve as a free, all-in-one podcast hosting and analytics platform that was praised by both Ek and Söderström as a more expansive and streamlined place. It features a new mobile app experience, analytics, a suite of new monetization options, tools to customize shows’ presence on Spotify, creator-fan interactivity features and “turnkey audio and video distribution.”

If the fanfare sounds familiar, it reminds of the initial push — ultimately resulting in $1 billion in spending over several years — that Spotify made since 2019 in podcasting that eventually resulted in a pullback, layoffs and repositioning of more modest ambitions for originals. But this time there wasn’t big promises of original programming bankrolled by Spotify.

“Each time we’ve embraced a medium, we’ve also successfully grown the pie and that’s because Spotify really exists to be the best platform for audiences and the best partner for artists, authors,” Ek said during his remarks, presented in front of a capacity crowd filled with podcast hosts, creators and talent like Meghan Trainor. “This really comes to life in our constant ongoing dialogue with the creative community and the importance we place on listening to our users whose feedback and behavior are clearer than ever before. They want to discover, watch, and listen to more new voices, and this brings me to why we’re excited about a new approach to video.”

The application for eligible creators is now open, and those who make the cut can access features like the ability to upload short-form, vertical clips to promote their episodes, complete with custom thumbnails. One such creator, who was in the building on Wednesday, expressed excitement about that particular feature to The Hollywood Reporter. “Right now, we have to cut short clips and promote the podcast on Instagram and TikTok, and hope that whoever it reaches will like what they see or hear and then travel to Spotify to check out the podcast. It makes it so much easier to scroll on Spotify and then stay there.”

Others may be stoked for their bank accounts. Spotify also unveiled other video offerings at the event all designed to help creators grow their audiences and better monetize video podcasts. Beginning in January, Spotify Premium subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada will be able to watch podcasts uninterrupted by dynamic ads. “We know that premium users listen to more than three times as much as music as ad-supported users,” Ek explained from the stage.

But that begs a question, Ek continued: “How can we compensate you for the massive growth in uninterrupted engagement that this will drive?” In January, Spotify will also launch a partner program for eligible creators to access a monetization system. The partner program has two components, premium video revenue and ads. For the former, creators in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia can earn revenue based on video consumption from Spotify Premium subscribers starting in January. For the latter, ads, creators earn a share of revenue every time a dynamic ad monetized by Spotify plays in their episodes both on and off Spotify.

“By delivering a best-in-class video offering, uninterrupted by ad breaks combined with Spotify’s flexibility and ubiquity, we can provide an experience for your audience that is superior to any platform,” Ek noted. “And by giving you guys the creators another path to monetization beyond ads, we’re freeing you up to do what you like doing, which is great.”

The move, Ek said, helped solve “a problem you may not believe was solvable.” He added: “Your fans, they love watching video podcasts, but they don’t love the industry shift to a heavy load of third-party ads. And I think this is a move that’s really harming growth across third-party platform. As the world’s leading music platform, we know that people like listening to their favorite artists without interruption, so why shouldn’t they be able to watch your videos in the same way?”

Ek then welcomed Söderström to the stage. He offered up a wealth of data points as he detailed Spotify for Creators and the reasoning behind creating the new platform. For example, he stated that in 2021, 43 percent of listeners polled by the company reported that they preferred video podcasts. In 2024, that number has increased to 64 percent. “And today more than 250 million users have watched video podcasts on Spotify, he added.

“A record number of people are watching an expanding array of video podcasts on the platform, and by many metrics, this is the fastest way to succeed on Spotify today,” Söderström said. “In fact, half of the new podcasts that build sustained audiences include video, and with the new tools, features and experiences that we are launching today, we expect that edge will continue grow. This is an opportunity for everyone in this room and beyond.”

Söderström then welcomed Jordan Newman, Spotify’s head of content partnerships, and Mallory Rubin, head of editorial at The Ringer, to the stage for a detailed rundown of the day’s schedule which featured panel discussions and a closing musical performance from Halsey. In between, Spotify also gave today’s crowd what they liked, too, by delivering a menu from top L.A. chef David Chang, alo berries and cream smoothies by Erewhon, bites and cream cheese dips from Pop’s Bagels, cocktails and coffee, a scent bar, Spotify sweatshirts, totes and other swag.

Featured speakers included Spotify’s chief public affairs officer Dustee Jenkins, global head of editorial Sulinna Ong, product director of podcasts and video Austin Lamon, senior manager of creator partnerships Haley Muse and senior product maanger-monetization Matt Huang, The Ringer’s head of podcast studios & MD Geoff Chow, and podcast hosts like Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry (The Colin & Samir Show), Chris Williamson (Modern Wisdom), Rachel Lindsay and Van Lathan (Higher Learning), Drew Afualo (The Comment Section), Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo (NewlyWeds), Joe Hegyes and Andrew Muwscarella (Good Children), and David Rosenthal (Acquired).