Spotify ads are a Breath of fresh air in the Sea of Cringe

Spotify the music streaming app has been trying to capture the Indian market but just couldn’t. It launched its services to India way back in 2019 but has failed to grow its reach as it does in western markets. In the US it is the leader in music streaming whereas in India it’s just another app in the sea of many others.

A surprising thing to note here is that Spotify premium is more costly in the USA than it is in India. In the US Spotify Premium starts at $9.99 per month that is Rs 755 in India. But the premium in India starts at just Rs 119/month.

Despite the lower price, however, it is still not the preferred choice of Indians when it comes to music streaming. Many still use Wynk, Gaana and others but the biggest source of music playback in the country is still Youtube and offline mp3s.

An ad that says a lot without saying a lot

Indian music streaming still is an untapped market and Spotify being a huge company wants to capture it before anyone else does. Now that, lowering prices did not work, Spotify has come up with another strategy. Creative advertisement! And quite successfully too.

I say successfully because many try to connect with the youth but have failed flat on their faces. Our TV screens are filled with cringe-inducing ads. Just look at the cesspool of online betting ads such as dream11, my 11 circle, gamzy and others. All claim to offer you a chance to win crores and corers of Rupees.

This Spotify ad however does not lure you into some scam or frighten you into FOMO like all insurance ads. It’s a simple ad that sells you a little bit of excitement in our mundane lives.

This Spotify ad is also great because it transcends language barriers as most people in India have listened to these songs and can connect with them. In the case of other ads, they have to translate it into different languages so that it could be broadcasted to different parts of the country, in this case, however, it could be shown as it to everyone in the country and they would know what it wants to say.

Will Spotify ads bring in customers for the company

Developing countries are going through a really tough time at the moment. Just look at the state of Sri Lanka and Peru. Inflation has broken the back of the middle class in all of these countries including India and people are looking to be as frugal as possible in these trying times.

The OTT platforms were aimed at eliminating the hassle of DTH recharges and shuffling through thousands of channels has instead exaggerated the problem even more. Now you need to recharge multiple OTT platforms in order to watch something that you could have done with just one DTH recharge earlier.

Recharging music streaming platforms in addition to all the other OTT platforms is just too much for many people which is why most just use YouTube or any other free streaming services for their music needs. These Spotify ads are really nice and they would certainly popularise the platform among youth but bringing in a lot of customers for the company si still a dream too far fetches in these times.