The Media Leader Podcast
Ed Couchman, head of sales for the UK and Northern Europe at Spotify, joins Ella Sagar to talk about the company’s advertising ambition, its podcast and audiobook strategy, and kindness as a superpower.
He underscores the commitment to CEO Daniel Ek’s goal of generating 20% of revenue from advertising and describes a “longer-term aspiration” for Spotify’s advertising sales.
Couchman says: “We do want in the long term for the ad sales to reach $10bn — so a real sizeable revenue contribution to the overall business.”
Elsewhere, he reveals the streamer’s “case-by-case” podcast strategy and how he would hypothetically like to see advertising in audiobooks.
Listen below or hit “subscribe” to play the episode on your choice of podcast player:
Couchman also expands on his recent column on how kindness at work is never a weakness, pointing out why it “has never been more needed” in the industry.
He adds: “I certainly felt in my earlier part of my career that kindness was seen as a bit of a weakness, and then as I’ve matured and seen value in it, I think there are some key things about being genuine, about being empathetic and understanding where people are coming from that actually make it into a superpower. That is my genuine belief around kindness and just how important it is.”
Highlights
03:38: Why kindness in media and advertising leadership is a superpower
10:07: Spotify’s long-term advertising ambition
12:48: What’s next for non-exclusive podcasts?
15:15: Becoming the global number two audiobook provider and growing the market
17:16: The audiobook advertising dream
18:28: Spotify’s “Time to Play Fair” campaign taking aim at Apple
23:55: Why are you passionate about media?
This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.
The Media Leader Podcast is a twice weekly show in which our journalists interview some of the most influential people in advertising and media, as well as the next generation of future leaders and rising stars. We also review the biggest stories in media and discuss our featured columnists’ latest opinion pieces.
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