Spotify quietly rolls out button that skips podcast ads

Spotify has started testing a new "skip ahead" button that lets Premium subscribers glide past podcast intros, sponsorships and ad breaks with a single tap, a convenience listeners have wanted for years but one that could upend how podcasters make money.

The users first noticed this feature last week when it was shown in the middle of ad breaks, allowing users to skip right to the next segment of the episode.

Without the feature, skipping ads used to involve multiple clicks of the traditional 15-second skip button feature, which would lead to overshooting of the ad break. It is worth noting that Spotify hasn't officially launched this new feature yet, and it is not clear if it is going to be implemented company-wide or not.

While many Spotify Premium users think it means there are no ads in any form on Spotify, podcasts have always been an exception to this rule.

Many podcasters record sponsor messages prior to sending the episode to Spotify, which means that the ads are already embedded within the audio file and outside Spotify’s control.

For ad-funded podcasts, the attention of listeners during those sponsored messages is what drives their revenue model. It would mean lower revenues for both the podcasters and their sponsors, making it increasingly difficult to attract sponsorship in the future.

In his article about the new feature’s release, Max Tani from Semafor noted how the button is tied to Spotify’s overall strategy. It means that Spotify tries to drive its subscription model by making the ads purchased from Spotify unskippable, while other publishers’ ads are skippable.