Skipping ads on the free version of spotify may be possible in the future

According to information made public on Ad Age, Spotify has started a trial for selected users in Australia whereby it allows listeners of the free option to skip "any" audio and / or video ad "as often as they like.". Currently, users who do not pay a monthly fee for a Premium Spotify subscription (9.99 euros per month in Spain) have to listen / see the ads without any possibility of skipping them.

A new step from Spotify

The battle of streaming music continues, and Spotify, whom Apple Music seems to be eating up by leaps and bounds, is preparing to take a new step that would allow “free” users to skip the ads they are now bound to consume.

Danielle Lee, director of Spotify's “partner solutions”, explained that unlimited ad skipping is something the company is interested in as this will allow users to hear or see only those ads they may be really interested in.. It is with this intention that Spotify will know what ads each user consumes until the end, "informing Spotify about their preferences in the process" and adapting the ads to their liking.

The company has called this "Active Media" and ensures that advertisers won't have to pay for the skipped ads, suggesting that Spotify is confident that it will be able to learn and create ads that are engaging enough for users do not want to skip them. According to Lee, Spotify's idea is to launch Active Media on a global scale, but at the moment the tests in Australia take only a month.

"Our hypothesis is that if we can use this to fuel our broadcast intelligence, and deliver a more personalized experience and a more attractive audience for our advertisers, it will improve the results that we can deliver to brands, " says Lee. "Just as we create these personalized experiences like Discover Weekly and the magic it brings to our consumers, we want to inject that concept into the advertising experience."