By Helen Myers, Advertising Week Correspondent
Senior Reporter at The Media Leader, Jack Benjamin, led Spotify’s panel on AI and strategy.
Benjamin began by asking the Head of Programmatic Supply EMEA at Google, Andreas Lux-Wellenhof, about the key trends in automation that are shaping the media landscape. To start, Lux-Wellenhof explained that automation is making it easier to serve users with the right message at the right time as consumer behavior changes. He added that buyers are starting tp set up hubs in different places. “[You] might want to bring your teams closer together, for example, in a hub, and then be sure that you have the right technology and that the technology in-house is integrated so you can use data from different pockets to address users in these different situations,” he said.
When asked what’s changing in regards to consumer behavior, Spotify’s Global Head of Automation Sales Anne Bouttier stated, “The content that’s being consumed on the platform. Video has grown massively over the past couple of years. We’re seeing the time spent in focus, as in looking at the screen, and playing around on the Spotify environment, up by nearly 40% in the UK markets just this year.”
With the recent unveiling of Spotify’s Ad Exchange, Bouttier spoke on the company’s strategy and goals of this announcement. “To be the best partner possible to marketers and brands, as well as agencies. We know that the market today is craving easier access, transparency, control, and measurability, and we are gearing towards all those goals with this investment that we’ve made,” she explained.
Lux-Wellenhof spoke on how partnering with spotify enhances Google DV360. “What’s exciting about Spotify is that you only have to talk to one partner to have campaigns that run in most European markets [which] makes it a lot easier to run campaigns. Everything works the same way in terms of audience, and in terms of measurement across the whole region,” he stated
Motorway’s CMO, Naomi Walkland, added that leveraging platforms like Spotify has been a big advancement for her company. “Digital audio has been a core channel for me. We’ve started to learn and integrate, and we’ve been really thankful for the partners at Spotify for helping us on that journey too.”
On the topic of leveraging AI within the business, Walkland advised how AI can seem more daunting than it actually is. “Women in particular don’t utilize [AI] because they feel like it’s cheating, and it’s really not cheating. It’s around empowering you, empowering you to do great work, and also helping the future proofing of your business and the marketing organization as well,” she explained.
Bouttier ended the conversation with what excites her about new AI developments. “When it comes to AI, the fact that it can [be] applied to every single stage of the media buying process. We touched on creative, it works for media planning, it works for optimization, it supports you in the full process. I’m excited to see what other usage will be developed in the next few months, or probably weeks,” she concluded.
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