Spotify has said it is introducing a ‘call-to-action’ advertisement feature that will allow podcast listeners to easily find products mentioned by podcasters.

The call-to-action cards, or CTA cards, are being rolled out to US users across select Spotify Original & Exclusive podcasts. The Swedish streaming giant announced the move yesterday (6 January) with the claim that it was “bringing interactivity to the audio ad experience.”

The cards will appear as a podcast ad begins playing and again in the app later on as the user is browsing. The cards will feature a clickable link which will take the listener directly to the product website without having to remember a “promo code or vanity URL”

The cards will remain visible to listeners in their app for up to a week after they have listened to the podcast mentioning the relevant product, or until such a time that the ad campaign wraps.

“With the launch of this new ad experience, we’re making podcast ads interactive for the first time, transforming the format from something that can only be heard, into an experience that you can also see — and, most importantly, click,” Spotify said.

The streaming giant sweetened the deal for advertisers, saying that they “can be especially excited” as its initial tests “have shown twice as many site visits with these new clickable ads compared to non-clickable podcast ads.”

The CTA cards feature is the latest to be introduced as part of Spotify’s plan to make “interactivity” the “next great frontier in audio.” It has already introduced video podcasts through its Anchor platform as well as Q&As and polls as part of its bid to increase user-creator contact.

Spotify has also invested heavily in ad insertion technology over the past while. It acquired podcast hosting and ad company Megaphone in 2020. The deal cost $235m.

Last year it expanded into the audiobook sector acquiring audiobook company Findaway. It bought podcast discovery platform Podz last Summer in a bid to replicate its music discovery feature for podcasts.

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