Spotify wants advertisers to use generative AI to create audio ads

Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek hinted at using generative AI to create podcast summaries and audio ads, which could improve user engagement and efficiency.

Spotify now has 551 million monthly active users in total. (Express image)

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Spotify is exploring new ways to use AI for its platform, after the success of DJ, a generative AI-powered feature that creates personalised playlists based on listening habits. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, CEO Daniel Ek hinted at some of the potential AI features that could enhance user engagement and efficiency.

One of the possible applications of generative AI is to produce concise summaries of podcasts, which can help users find new podcasts that match their interests. This would also benefit podcast creators by boosting their visibility and growth.

Another area where generative AI could assist Spotify is in the creation of audio ads. Ek said that using AI to generate audio ads would drastically lower the cost and time for advertisers to develop new formats.

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“By using generative AI and our tools here, I think you’re going to be able to see that we can significantly reduce the cost that it takes for advertisers to develop new ad formats,” Ek said. “And that obviously means that you as an advertiser instead of having one ad, you can imagine having thousands and tested across the Spotify networks, things that you could easily do today using text but you haven’t been able to do over video or in audio.”

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These remarks coincide with a Spotify patent for an AI-powered “text-to-speech synthesis” system that was published on July 20. The patent describes technology that can convert text into human-like speech with emotion and intention. It suggests that Spotify could be aiming for a feature much more advanced than DJ, which only says a few sentences between songs like a radio jockey does. The speech synthesis tech could help Spotify eliminate the need for human dubbing for audiobooks, and replace it with AI-generated speech.

The earnings call also revealed that Spotify has 220 million paying subscribers worldwide, which is a 17% increase from last year. Spotify now has 551 million monthly active users in total.