Spotify ,the music streaming service has announced the launch of Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) which is the new proprietary podcast ad technology that powers  the spotify podcast ads. As audio and podcast consumption increases at staggering rates — on Spotify — podcast consumption increased 39% from Q2 to Q3 last year. And ad dollars follow — Spotify is leading the charge to unlock the potential of this uniquely powerful and intimate advertising medium.

SAI technology leverages streaming to deliver Spotify’s full digital suite of planning, reporting, and measurement capabilities for Spotify original and exclusive podcasts. This includes data such as actual impression frequency (number of times a listener heard the ad), reach  and anonymized audience insights. This is the first of its kind  for advertisers and podcast creators.

Despite being a digital medium, the podcast industry measures audience, reach, and impact much like you would a full-page ad in a magazine. Advertisers generally have a sense for who they’re reaching, based on survey data and the magazine’s target audience. Total circulation measures the number of doorsteps that the issue hits, but there’s no precise data on how many readers actually opened the magazine, let alone reached or acted on the ad.

Until now, podcast advertising has experienced many of these same challenges because the medium is still largely downloaded via static RSS feeds. But the shift in consumption from downloads to streaming has opened the door for advances in data-driven podcast advertising, and here at Spotify, we’re moving beyond these constraints to re imagine what’s possible for this uniquely powerful and intimate medium. 

With this technology, Spotify offers the intimacy, quality and efficacy of traditional podcast ads with the precision and transparency of modern-day digital marketing.