Months after Spotify inked a Cineverse partnership deal, additional evidence is pointing to a major video buildout at the audio-entertainment platform. Photo Credit: Thibault Penin
Less than two months after Digital Music News was first to cover Spotify’s Cineverse deal – including the on-platform availability of full TV episodes – additional evidence is pointing to a major video expansion.
This newest indication of an aggressive video embrace just recently came to light, though in many respects, Spotify’s visual-media ambitions have long been clear. A growing selection of video podcasts, short clips, and music videos are already live on the platform, which is also placing a greater emphasis than ever on profitability and operational efficiency.
At the intersection of those points – an ongoing effort to maintain a lean operation while still adding popular features and content – the days of haphazard diversification initiatives are, at least for the time being, in the rearview.
To name only a few examples, a number of original podcasts have been canceled, Heardle is no more, Soundtrap has been sold back to its founders, and the Spotify Live social-audio app has been shelved. Consequently, it seems that any music-adjacent moves Spotify does spearhead moving forward – like embracing audiobooks – will be part of a carefully developed strategy with multiple moving parts.
Enter the initially mentioned Cineverse tie-up, which, despite receiving curiously little industry attention from outlets besides DMN, brought full episodes of shows like The Dog Whisperer, on top of comedy specials and more, to the service.
Now, according to Bloomberg, Spotify is currently floating offers, some hitting the seven-figure mark, in an attempt to entice video creators to begin distributing their content on-platform. As laid out by the same source, the objective isn’t necessarily exclusivity (in terms of the media itself or advertising rights), with Spotify instead looking to bolster its video library generally.
Furthermore, the available details suggest that the deep-pocketed Spotify will realize its goal sooner rather than later. Certain of the proposals are promising creators marketing support but not direct payments for deciding to upload. However, given the highlighted seven-figure offers, others stand to enjoy an immediate financial benefit from making the move.
To state the obvious, Spotify will have to generate money (and pay creators for views) on this video content – a point worth bearing in mind amid an ugly legal battle stemming from the service’s audiobook bundles.
Keeping the focus on advertising, May saw Spotify appear at the NewFronts advert conference for the first time to tout its video offerings. Meanwhile, DMN has throughout 2024 tracked the many advertising hires of Spotify, which in June launched an in-house marketing agency called Creative Lab.
