Adverts playing before my favoutite Podcast - and I'm on Premium

[Moz65]

So just in the last week or so I've noticed Spotify have started running short ads at the start of my favourite pocast. I thought I was paying a monthly fee to avoid ads, which I can't stand - what gives?!

[Noah]

Hey @Moz65,

Thanks for reaching out!

While Spotify doesn’t play ads to Premium subscribers, some podcasts might have third-party ads within their episodes. It's not possible for Spotify to remove these ads from the podcasts as they are recorded into the podcast itself.

I listen to podcasts on Spotify all the time and I rarely ever find one without third-party ads recorded into it. If you could provide me with the name of the podcast your listening to, I'd be happy to check it out to confirm if the episodes do indeed have third-party ads.

If you experience ads anywhere else in the app, such as while listening to music, I'd recommend taking a look at this support article.

Let me know if you have any questions. Happy listening 🙂

[harrryarne]

I just had the same happen to me (plus the same ads were played inside the episode too).  I contacted customer service today, and they said that premium gives you ad-free music, but not ad-free podcasts (and radio) as these needed ads to generate income.  There is currently no payment plan for ad-free podcasts.  I wasn't overly impressed with the answer, but there was no glitch or anything I was doing wrong on my end.

[Noah]

Hey @harrryarne,

Subscribing to Spotify Premium removes all of the first-party advertisements which support the Free plan, including advertisements in Spotify Radio stations.

However, many podcasts have third-party ads within their episodes. It's not possible for Spotify to remove these ads from the podcasts since they are recorded into the podcast itself by the podcast creator, and not controlled by Spotify in any way.

Have a great day 🙂