[All Platforms] No Ads in Podcasts for Spotify Premium users

[Montesi]

I pay for my subscription. Every month for years now. The main reason I am a paid-for subscriber with Spotify is so I don't have to hear ads. As I have shifted my podcast listening from other providers to Spotify to bypass ads, both from the platform as well as integrated into the content.

I expect not to hear ads on Spotify. I understand there are ads woven into the actual content of the podcast itself, but for as big of a company and the amount of leverage Spotify has, I expect to not hear ads so long as I am paying for the service.

I reached out to Spotify and got this lazy, generic answer from Joy in Spotify Customer Support: “if you're hearing ads on podcasts using this Premium account. It's possible that the podcaster integrated that ads to their podcast content”. Thanks for breaking your back on that response.

I KNOW what the ads I’m hearing are. And I understand they can’t ask podcasters to export two versions, one with integrated ads and one without. What I expect from Spotify is to either implement metadata that tags the beginning and ending of ad segments and bypass them for us, Premium subscribers, or require podcasters to give metadata timecodes that Spotify can identify to bypass them AUTOMATICALLY.

Just to be clear, even if these identifiers are put into the content, I don’t want to have to pull my phone out to hit any sort of “skip ads” button. This is literally the ONLY reason users have Premium. So get rid of the ads. It’s actually very simple. And let’s not get started on how archaic it is to continually hit the “15sec forward” button to bypass the ads, first over shooting, then undershooting the duration of the integrated ad, only to have to make peace with hearing the last ten seconds of the ad. At that point it’s not servicing either party in the transaction.

It’s 2020. You are a huge company with a lot of leverage and a huge developer budget. I honestly can’t believe I’m even having to write this suggestion.

tl:dr - Spotify, I am a Premium member. You made a promise to me that if I became a Premium member, I wouldn’t hear ads. I’m hearing ads on podcasts. Integrated or not, I don’t care. You have the technology and power to fix it. So fix it. And make it automatic. It’s 2020.

[user-removed]

Your points make sense. I understand where you’re coming from. It’s opaque what is right or wrong and very subjective, which to me is where this is unacceptable for customers. 

I get worked up and communicate poorly about things of this nature because I am passionate about what I believe are the pillars of what the good side of the internet is. Spotify and other streaming platforms bring a lot of good into the lives of users- whether it be through music or learning or community. I feel the same about sites like Wikipedia where people work together to spread knowledge and I work off the premise that the intentions are pure and honest- something depressingly rare these days. 

I apologize for my poor communication- my frustration comes from how I see it as disheartening that the perception of this is pure corporate greed and ugliness instead of an attempt to enrich lives of users while simultaneously doing what is good for business so they don’t sink- the streaming industry is exceptionally cold-blooded from a business angle- the stakes are insanely high. 

I hope you have a nice rest of your day.

[Dlitescountryside]

Ad free podcasts - another level membership, which includes both ad free music and ad free podcasts. And if not then at least have verbiage explaining to premium users you will still have ads if listening to podcasts just not during music.

kinda annoying to have to figure all this out on your own when u r like why am I hearing ads???? Which seems to me to be a lot more often now. 

[GalassoLuca]

I totally agree! I'm feeling the same! The more time pass, the more I see that period of my past life coming back both for video and music.

I can understand that the podcast owner wants to make more money and it makes sense you let them add ads, but it's ridiculous that Spotify has the possibility to hide that adv to paid members (since it's an external track) and you are going around this without even listening to your users.

[GalassoLuca]

Shouldn't stop passing the buck on this issue? I'm paying for Spotify Premium for the removal of adv, and this is a feature you developing for the podcaster ignoring your paying users. Doesn't it make more sense to move this feature behind Spotify Subscription as we do for songs? Am I not paying to remove ads from Spotify operated by Spotify?

[258286738]

I'm having the same problem... and it annoys me... 

[stadtkind]

Proper and honest answer from Spotify might've been:

"We are sorry that you have to listen to ads in your premium subscription plan, but after years we're still not making profits although being the biggest player on the market. Because we want to become even bigger by being the number one source for podcasts on the internet, we need to throw money at podcasters which we are not able to come up by ourself. We do not want to raise subscription fees and therefore we will play ads so we can continue our growth of the platform. One day, maybe, we'll have a profitable business. Until then, f you  users."

[Vonplaf]

So their reply is in general: Spotify is greedy .. and want more money and by that justify serving ads to those that pays not to get ads.
Not good enough..  But then again by now looking at how many replies there is to this topic and its age of it and how little they done / shown that they care about what we the users say and even us that pay for spotify,
It's clear that they don't care about the complaints that users might have and will continue to serve ads to user not matter what type of subscription the users might have, they just care about getting more money.

[Vonplaf]

The latest reply I have from spotify.
So in general they think that paying users should still get ads served in podcasts as their stance is that paying users should only get music that is ad free.
So if you live in Denmark and listen to a podcast in US then expect to still get served Danish ads in that podcast by spotify because ... greed thats why.!!

From Spotify support:
Podcasts usually include some advertising. This has been the case since the early days of podcasts, and continues to be true today, including on Spotify. Therefore, even as a Premium user, you may receive advertising or sponsored messages when playing a podcast. Note that as a Premium user, you still enjoy an ad-free music listening experience. 

[newchick23]

It is difficult to believe that with millions of users paying $10 per month, Spotify isn't turning a profit. However, the real issue here is integrity and transparency.

When we signed up for your "ad-free" services, we expected exactly that. Unfortunately, we have been bombarded with ads, leading many of us to downgrade to free accounts. This discrepancy between what was promised and what we are experiencing is disheartening.

If profitability is a genuine concern, perhaps raise subscription  prices instead of resorting to deceptive practices. Maintaining integrity and transparency is crucial for our trust as customers.

Please address these concerns and work towards a resolution that benefits both Spotify and its users.

[arzenix]

I have to agree. It's madness that we have to endure commercials on podcasts that is produced by Spotify. I thought my subscribtion would give me an ad-free experience. Same on you!