[All Platforms] We, your premium members, are sick of ads being interjected into podcasts

[Tobeuss]

Spotify moderators keep closing ideas with "answers" that don't answer anything and just sweep concerns under the rug. Podcasts are having ads interjected into them (not just being read by the podcaster) and we're all tired of it. We voiced out opinions in an idea and you all closed it down with an explanation that amounted to a whole lot of nothing.

Treat our customers like the people we are, the people that pay for all of this.

If you don't want us to do that here, give us a true outlet to make these complaints, someplace with actual feedback and someone that might actually care. Terrible customer service has killed business much larger than Spotify, with many fewer competitors.

None of us feel as though Spotify cares about anything but money anymore.

[Xenia]

Hello @Tobeuss, 

We really do our best to provide as much information as possible when closing ideas. Do let us know what you'd still like cleared up and we'll answer your questions.

It's absolutely not our intention to sweep any concerns voiced here under the rug. The Community is a good place to share your opinions, feedback and criticism and we’re monitoring, addressing and forwarding them to all the different teams within Spotify to make sure your voice is heard and taken under consideration.

If a request can’t be implemented, we think it’s best not to beat about the bush and play with open cards. This doesn’t mean that we don’t care or don’t value your opinion. We understand that this is important to you and we will continue to pass on your feedback and keep you posted, should anything change.

We hope all of the above is something you can relate to. To circle back - if you have any questions why something is as is, let us know and we'll try and answer those.

All the best!

[Tobeuss]

Okay, why are we premium users getting ads in premium podcasts. Not in-podcast readings, actual audio tracks dropped in  before and during podcasts?

Ad-free is what you advertise and what we pay for.

Also, you might read a few more posts around here. More than a few folks feel like Spotify has given up on customer service and is focused solely on the almighty dollar, these days. 

It used to be a great company and a great service, not it's just one of many and losing it's luster with actual users.

[Xenia]

Hi again @Tobeuss,

We advertise that a Premium user can listen to music without ad interruptions, which is one of the key benefits of a Premium subscription. However, podcasts for both free and Premium users may include ads, and they can be either host-read endorsements, sponsorships or audio adverts within the podcast track itself.

A special feature is available that can dynamically insert ads within a podcast stream. This can be enabled or disabled by the podcast publishers. The desire here is to provide some added value for those who want to host their podcasts on Spotify.

We understand that there might be some confusion on the fact that Premium comes with ad free music listening, but doesn't cover podcasts. Hopefully these explanations provide you with a better understanding of our Premium subscription and the ads that you listened to, and we apologize if this was not made sufficiently clear before. We do care about our users' opinion and we’ll do our best to expand on the information sources available to be more transparent.

It's sad to hear you feel this way about our support and we can assure you that we do our best to read through everything that’s posted on our Community and are trying to answer all questions and offer help where we can. Some things might take longer to accomplish and others might not be possible at all, but we are listening and continuously trying to improve.

We hope you understand. Let us know if you have any other questions!

[Tobeuss]

That’s odd. I don’t recall paying for the two services separately.