Spotify Sells Itself to Advertisers as an Alternative to Doom Scrolling

Time passes in funny ways when you’re on your phone.Five minutes of swiping on TikTok or tapping through Instagram Stories can slip into 10 minutes, or 20, or one sunken hour.Alex Norstrom, co-president and chief business officer of Spotify, believes some apps will soon “self-swipe,” requiring even less of your effort or awareness.His company is moving in a different direction: Using Spotify, he said, “takes commitment.”On Wednesday, Spotify laid out its plans to boost its advertising business with several new initiatives to make ad-buying easier, including an A.I.

tool for brands in the United States and Canada to generate their scripts and voice-overs.But it also made a broader pitch to potential advertisers: Many Spotify users aren’t passively scrolling.They’re learning the somewhat fussy technical process of joining a “jam” (listening to music simultaneously with friends), Mr.Norstrom said; or getting to know the host of a podcast who already has 2,000 episodes; or pressing play on a 48-hour audiobook.

And a more engaged audience is more likely to engage with ads.“It’s more nutritious,” Mr.Norstrom said in an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, “rather than these high-caloric, quick things.”On Wednesday, Lee Brown, global head of advertising, further promoted Spotify to advertisers as an alternative to “rotting and doom scrolling.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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