. The Ad Studio allows interested parties to create audio ads from scratch and manage Spotify campaigns from one location — it's ideal for small businesses looking for a fast, low-cost means of reaching music fans. The Ad Studio first launched in 2017 and was, until now, only available in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
As most consumers are quarantined in their homes, early data suggests the loss of commuting time appears to be having an adverse impact on time spent with audio content:According to analytics firm Alpha Data, music streaming has declined in the past few weeks. In the period between March 13 through March 20, streams across music streaming services like Spotify and Pandora pulled fewer streams than the week prior, with the drop-offs the highest in the pop, rap, R&B, and Latin Music genres.
For Spotify, offering low-barrier, targetable options to a wider pool of small businesses will likely help stave off a serious revenue decline even as listening takes a hit. With most small businesses — especially restaurants — losing access to regular foot traffic, local brand awareness is likely a top concern. Spotify's international expansion will provide a novel way for many small businesses to reach their local communities with its wide list of targetable geographies.
Moreover, the low barriers that the Ad Studio provides to ad creation will likely appeal to cash-strapped small businesses: Any advertiser can simply upload a script to the ad studio and within 48 hours they will have a fully produced ad in their native language, a service that Spotify reports 37% of advertisers already take advantage of.
While we think this expansion will help Spotify mitigate some of the negative effects of the pandemic, it's worth noting that it likely has limited upside right now, due to the current economic climate. That's especially true for small businesses, who are hit hard by the coronavirus. Business Insider Intelligence analyzes the media and marketing industry and provides in-depth analyst reports, proprietary forecasts, customizable charts, and more.