How to Advertise on Spotify in the UK: A Small Business Guide
Updated: 6 days ago
TL;DR: UK small businesses can advertise on Spotify through Spotify Ads Manager — the self-serve platform formerly called Ad Studio — with audio and video campaigns starting from just £250. You pay on a CPM basis (cost per 1,000 impressions) and can target by age, location, interests, device and even the genres and playlists people listen to. Spotify will even produce your audio ad for free, so you don’t need a studio to get on air.
Why Spotify deserves a slice of your budget
Spotify is no longer just a music app — it is one of the UK’s most-used audio and video platforms, reaching tens of millions of people through its free, ad-supported tier. The company reported 678 million monthly active users and 268 million paying subscribers worldwide in early 2025, and it is those ad-supported listeners you reach when you advertise.
Audio is also an intimate, low-clutter channel. People listen on headphones, in the car, at the gym and while they work, usually with no other brand competing for that moment. Spotify’s own research with Kantar found ad-supported Spotify delivered 28% or more incremental weekly reach on top of other media, and that 53% of listeners say they pay more attention to Spotify ads than to ads on other platforms.
For a small business, that mix — a large ad-supported audience, a personal listening moment and a self-serve platform you can run yourself — makes Spotify one of the more accessible premium channels in 2026.
The ad formats you can run
Spotify offers several formats through its self-serve tool, but two do most of the work for small businesses.
Audio ads play between songs for free-tier listeners and run up to 30 seconds, paired with a clickable display image so people can tap straight through to your website. Because the screen is often off, the message lives in the voiceover — so lead with the offer, not the backstory.
Video ads, including the Video Takeover, appear when someone is actively looking at the app, so your visuals are on screen with the sound on. Podcast ads place your message inside Spotify’s podcast catalogue by genre, and display formats can support a campaign — but audio and video are where most small advertisers start.
What Spotify ads cost in the UK
Here is the part that surprises people: you do not need thousands to begin. Spotify’s self-serve audio and video campaigns in the UK start at £250 per campaign.
Pricing works on a CPM model — you pay per 1,000 impressions rather than per click. There is no single fixed rate: your CPM moves with how narrowly you target, the format you choose and the time of year. Broad, national audio buys are the cheapest, while tightly targeted single-city or video campaigns, and the busy Q4 festive season, push the cost per thousand up.
To size a realistic budget, decide how many people you want to reach, multiply by how many times you want them to hear the ad (three exposures is a common planning assumption), divide by 1,000, then multiply by your expected CPM. That almost always lands well above the £250 floor — treat £250 as the entry point, not a workable test budget. Plan a four-to-six-week flight so the campaign has time to deliver and learn.
How to set up your first campaign
Getting started is deliberately simple:
1. Create a free account at Spotify Ads Manager (ads.spotify.com).
2. Choose your objective — awareness, consideration or driving clicks.
3. Define your audience by age, location, interests, listening behaviour and device.
4. Set your budget and schedule, remembering the £250 minimum and a multi-week flight.
5. Upload your creative, or use Spotify’s free tool to produce an audio ad.
6. Add your clickable image and destination URL, then launch.
7. Watch the dashboard and optimise as the results come in.
Targeting and free ad creation
Spotify’s targeting is one of its quiet strengths. You can narrow by demographics (age, gender) and geography (country, region or city), but also by interests, the genres and playlists someone listens to, and real-time context such as device and whether they are working out or winding down. For a local business, geographic targeting to your town or delivery radius is the single most important setting — it stops you paying to reach listeners who could never buy from you.
A common blocker is ‘we don’t have an audio ad’. Spotify removes it: its self-serve platform can produce a professionally voiced audio ad at no extra cost — you supply the script, and Spotify supplies the voiceover and music. A small business with no agency and no studio can be on air within a day.
A quick pre-launch checklist
Before you hit launch, confirm: one clear objective; geographic targeting set to where you actually sell; a 15–30 second script with a single call to action; a clickable image carrying your logo and offer; a destination URL that loads fast on mobile; a budget sized for roughly three exposures over four to six weeks; and conversion tracking on the landing page so you can prove the return.
Quick FAQ
How much does it cost to advertise on Spotify in the UK?
Self-serve audio and video campaigns start at £250 per campaign through Spotify Ads Manager, billed on a CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) basis. Your effective cost depends on how tightly you target, the format and the season.
Do I need to make my own audio ad?
No. Spotify’s self-serve platform can produce a professionally voiced audio ad for free — you provide the script, and Spotify supplies the voiceover and background music.
Is Spotify advertising worth it for a small business?
It can be, especially for local awareness. You reach an engaged, ad-supported audience in a low-clutter environment, with precise location and interest targeting and a low entry budget. Treat your first campaign as a test and measure reach, frequency and click-throughs.
What’s the difference between Spotify Ads Manager and Ad Studio?
They are the same self-serve platform. Spotify rebranded ‘Ad Studio’ as ‘Spotify Ads Manager’ in 2024, so older guides may still use the previous name.
Audio is one of the most underrated channels for small businesses in the UK. For less than the cost of a decent print ad, you can be speaking into thousands of headphones across your town — with a message people actually finish. Start local, keep the offer simple, and let the data tell you when to scale. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The bottom line: you don’t need a big budget or a recording studio to advertise on Spotify. With £250, sharp local targeting and one clear offer, a UK small business can test premium audio in weeks, not quarters.
Have you tried audio advertising yet — or is Spotify still on your ‘maybe next year’ list?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Related reading
Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
