Today, the majority of Spotify’s advertisers represent the Fortune 500, multinational brands and the world’s most influential agencies. While the number of SMBs is growing on Spotify – up almost 30% YoY – we are focused on further growing their footprint on our platform as we look to grow ad revenue to 20% of total revenue. We are building a platform that doesn’t just help advertisers reach our audience of over 500 million, but delivers real results across the marketing funnel.

We are launching Spotify Advertising Academy and the Spotify Partner Certification Program to help SMBs and their agencies learn everything they need to know about advertising on Spotify. Now live in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States the free, interactive, self-paced courses are for those new to digital audio advertising or anyone looking to grow their skills. The Academy helps advertisers of all sizes to learn to create, optimize, and measure effective Spotify campaigns. Following the completion of the courses along with a history of selling Spotify Ads to clients or buying Spotify Ads directly, participants will earn a certification badge, signaling their unique expertise. Advertisers across Europe and Brazil will be able to access the content in English; it will be localized at a later date.

This launch comes on the heels of Samuel Bevan joining Spotify as Global Head of SMB Ad Sales. Sam joined Spotify this month from Snapchat where he was the Global Director of Small & Mid Customer Sales. Prior to Snapchat, he held SMB roles at Facebook and Google. 

The Academy courses include topics such as Digital Audio Foundations, Intro to Podcasting Advertising, Intro to Ad Studio and Creative Audio Best Practices (most notably how to approach digital audio vs. radio creative and how to use our free production tools). 

Over 40 agencies and counting are already certified, giving them a leg-up against their competition. A few of the first adopters include Mediabeast, Directwest, and Mediaspark. 

“As an agency, we’re constantly looking ahead to capture the best opportunities for our clients across all types of media,” said Maggie Mull, Director of Partnerships at The MediaBeast Marketing Group. “As audio ads continue to prove their strength and influence, Spotify’s Partner Certification is a crucial signal to our potential SMB clients, affirming our expertise in this powerful space and ability to deliver unmatched success.”