Spotify drives ad revenues through major brand deals

Spotify has signed pan-European commercial partnership deals with Nike, Ray-Ban and H&M, and a content deal with Carling, as the online music streaming service looks to increase its footprint online and drive ad revenues.

Nike, Ray-Ban and H&M are to work with Spotify to develop new ad models on the platform. But new media age understands the deals will also see the brands cross-promote the music service within their own web marketing.

Beer brand Carling has also linked with Spotify to launch a campaign site on Carling.com where members can upload and share their playlists.

Jon Mitchell, Spotify UK's sales director, wouldn't elaborate on the terms of the Nike, Ray-Ban and H&M partnerships, but said, "These brands don't tend to enter into deals to simply run banners; they're looking for something more sophisticated."

Mitchell added that ad inventory in development includes video formats as well as the ability to sponsor member-generated playlists.

The deals come one week after new media age revealed Swedish-founded Spotify, which has over 1m users worldwide, is to launch local and mood targeting to increase ad opportunities (nma 5 March).

Rob Salmon, marketing communications partner for Carling, said Spotify represented a perfect content partnership that would fit with the beer brand's demographic.

"Once in a while you come across a site that's so cool you want to tell all your mates about it," he said. "We believe our audience will be delighted to hear about a service that turns their computer into a jukebox."

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk