Spotify to pay creators for videos in Australia as revenue grows
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The news: Spotify will launch a new creator monetisation program in Australia from next year as part of a move poised to lure more talent from competing platforms, such as YouTube.
The context: The announcement represents a re-commitment from Spotify to podcasting following a year of cost-cutting and retrenchment across the sector which cooled despite a string of major investments in the medium.
The program is made up of two components. The first is “Premium Video Revenue” which will see creators in the US, UK, Canada and Australia eligible for a fresh income stream based on video consumption from the platform’s premium subscribers.
The second is an advertising revenue share program, which Spotify says will offer “enrolled creators” a share of revenue for each dynamic ad played within their episodes “both on and off Spotify”.
Spotify reported third-quarter revenue growth of 19% to €3.99 billion ($6.5 billion) on Wednesday, while paying subscribers grew to 252 million. The company posted a burst in operating income to €454 million, up on the €32 million reported the same quarter last year.
Shares in Spotify were up 11.44% in US trading at 9:05am AEDT.
The share of Australian podcasters publishing video on Spotify has grown 60% year-on-year, the company said on Thursday, while video podcast consumption hours are up 11% over the last year.
Podcast listeners in Australia are up 13% year-on-year, the company said, with consumption hours for local shows up 8%. The fastest growing podcast categories on Spotify in Australia are politics and current events; horror, paranormal and conspiracy theories, and business and technology.
What they said: “Spotify Premium has long set the standard for listening on any device,” Spotify founder and chief executive Daniel Ek said.
“By delivering a best-in-class video offering uninterrupted by ad breaks, combined with Spotify’s flexibility and ubiquity, we can provide an experience for your audience that is superior to any platform. And by giving you, the creators, another path to monetization beyond ads, we’re freeing you up to spend more time doing what you love: creating.”
The source: Spotify
