Audio streaming service Spotify has expanded its UK agency development team with the appointment of Jade Behr, who joins as UK agency development lead after three years of working at Amazon liaising with advertising agency WPP.
“With the launch of audiobooks, podcasts, a continued success in music and some amazing projects in the works it's a super exciting time to be at Spotify and I can't wait to get started,” said Behr in a LinkedIn post announcing the news. “A huge thank you to the team at Amazon that made my time there so special. I had a blast!”
Spotify’s advertising business is also set to be joined by former Snapchat executive, Ed Couchman, who was announced as the incoming head of advertising sales for the company’s Northern Europe team in December 2022, and is expected to start this month.
In October last year, Spotify revealed that its podcast ad revenue has increased by 19% year-on-year, to a total of €385 million (£338m), according to its third quarter 2022 earnings report. The company’s annual 2022 Podcasts Trends Report also revealed a growth in B2B advertising last quarter, as well as an overall increase in podcast listenership and downloads globally.
At this year’s Campaign Year ahead breakfast briefing, Spotify’s EMEA head of sales Rak Patel credited the increase of podcast advertising to its affordability, stating that “if you get tactical, this is a cheaper creative to create.”
“We know that the scale of podcasts is here to stay and it's growing - it's forecast to get to €1.5 billion across EMEA by the end of this year - and will continue to do so,” said Patel. “So we've launched many a set of tools to help brands and agencies really get the most out of our platform.”
