This week, Spotify shared its second quarter 2024 earnings report. Our total number of monthly active users (MAUs) increased to 626M globally (up 14% Y/Y)¹, thanks to healthy subscriber gains, improved monetization, and record profitability. Of these MAUs, 393M are ad-supported (up 15% YoY).²

Moreover, ad-supported revenue increased by 13% YoY³—reflecting double-digit Y/Y growth across all regions, spanning music and podcasts. The Spotify Audience Network, which brings scaled, audience-based podcast buying to advertisers, continues to see Q/Q growth in participating publishers and advertisers.

This announcement comes alongside today’s official launch of Spotify Ads Manager—formerly known as Spotify Ad Studio—bringing enhanced platform capabilities to help advertisers of all sizes get started with Spotify Advertising.

Below, we share our Q2 highlights with a lens on what these moments mean for advertisers as they look to level up their Spotify advertising strategy and effectively engage audiences in 2024.

1. Spotify Advertising launches the 2024 Podcast Trends Tour to guide advertisers through the latest trends in podcasting

Back in May, Spotify Advertising launched the 2024 Podcast Trends Tour, an interactive exploration of the latest trends in podcasting. From the role of ‘podfluencers’ to the most-streamed categories and the rapid rise of video, the report is packed with insights and thought-starters to help you craft a compelling podcast advertising strategy with Spotify.

Podcasts continue to thrive on Spotify—winning new audiences, building trust with creators, breaking international borders, and transcending media formats. Advertisers are in a unique position to benefit. Read the report in full, here.

2. Spotify returns to Cannes with a creative outlook, and takes home nine 2024 Cannes Lions Awards

In June, we returned to The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity to celebrate the only way we know how: with intimate concerts, star-studded daytime panels and vibrant nights that rocked the Croisette. The 2024 edition marked an exceptional year for Spotify Advertising, as our B2B campaign “Spreadbeats” picked up nine Cannes Lions awards, including a Grand Prix, while the Spotify brand won a Bronze Lion in the Creative Effectiveness category for Spotify Wrapped.

Back on the beach, we were joined by high-profile guests for our daytime panels, including creators Shaboozey, Robyn Delmonte (aka GirlBossTown), Jake Shane, and John Legend—who reflected on how businesses and brands can build their profiles with authenticity and creative spirit.

Read the full recap here—and how you can drive results for your business or brand through creative advertising on Spotify.

3. Spotify launches Creative Lab, an in-house creative agency who will work with brands and agencies to inspire and scale multi-format creativity with Spotify

Creativity is the lifeblood of Spotify. It’s what drives our creators, keeps our fans engaged, and allows our advertising partners to make a memorable impression. To stimulate that flow further, we launched Creative Labs—an in-house creative agency with the goal of building brand experiences that leverage the creative, cultural and contextual potential of Spotify that fans love.

With Creative Labs, brands and agencies receive white-glove support to help them reach our hyper-engaged audience of over 626 million. Reach out to your Spotify sales rep to learn more.

4. ‘Quick Audio’, a generative AI-driven tool, will soon be launching in Spotify Ads Manager

Earlier this year at Cannes Lions, we announced the upcoming launch of ‘Quick Audio’, a new generative AI tool that will enable Spotify Ads Manager users to create scripts and voiceovers with ease, speed, and at scale.

We believe Quick Audio will transform creative advertising; provide high-quality, end-to-end solutions with ease and speed; lower the barrier of entry; and help advertisers run a large number of ads to scale their creative. Stay tuned for more updates.

5. There are now over 250,000 video podcast shows on Spotify—further cementing video as a key content format across music, podcasts, and ads

In June the number of video podcast shows on Spotify passed 250,000⁶—up from 10,000 in 2023—showing how creators are embracing video content on Spotify. Their fans are responding—in fact, more than 170 million users have now watched a video podcast on Spotify⁷, while the number of video podcast MAUs has grown by 40% year-over-year.⁸

For advertisers, this dual trend creates rich and exciting opportunities for connecting with audiences through video. On Spotify, there are two distinct video ad formats: sound-on video and opt-in video. In addition, Canvas for Advertisers brings the dynamic, looping visual feature to audio ads on Spotify. All are only ever served when the app is in focus, ensuring messages are heard and seen.