Inserting ad breaks in your episodes

There are a couple of ways to insert ad breaks within your episodes if you’re utilizing Spotify for Podcasters’ ads tools.

If you’re using the “Create an episode” experience on web or using the mobile app

If you create your episode directly within Spotify for Podcasters (by using the “Create an episode” flow on web) or you use the mobile app to create your episode, you can insert ad segments into your episode.

An ad segment includes space for up to one ad to play. 

1. On web: Click New episode and then Create an episode.
   On mobile: Tap “+”.
2. Add at least one segment to your episode.
3. Click/tap Insert an ad.

You can insert up to three ad segments per episode made using “Create an episode”. Ad segments can’t be inserted at the end of your episode or in episodes containing songs from Spotify.

If you’re using the “Quick upload” flow on web

If you use “Quick upload” to upload your episodes on web, you can use a waveform ad insertion tool to decide exactly where to place ad breaks within your episode.

We recommend this experience if you record and create your episodes outside of Spotify for Podcasters.

1. Click New episode and then Quick upload.
2. Upload your episode file.
3. Once the episode file has finished uploading, click Insert ads on the Episode options page.

You can insert up to five ad breaks per episode made using “Quick upload”. Each ad break can be configured to play up to five ads.

To edit ad breaks in existing episodes:

1. Click or tap on an episode.
2. On web: Scroll down and click Edit ads.
   On mobile: Tap Edit ad locations.
3. On the Episode options page, scroll down to Ad insertion and click Insert ads.

Number of ad breaks

The number of ad breaks or ad segments that you insert into an episode is the maximum number of ads that could play. However, it doesn’t mean that that number of ads will always play, as ad delivery is subject to availability and advertiser demand for your audience.

Troubleshooting hearing ad breaks

Ads may not always play when you or a listener listens to an episode of your podcast. Take a look at the below troubleshooting steps if you’re encountering trouble with hearing your ad:

• Spotify currently supports ad delivery through its desktop, iOS, and Android apps. If a listener is listening via other Spotify clients (e.g, web player, smart speakers, car, or TV), ads won’t play.  
• Spotify currently supports ad delivery when the listener’s device is connected to the internet. Listeners won’t hear ads on Spotify if they use the app in offline mode or disable the internet connection on their device.
• If your ad break is inserted in the first 10 seconds of an episode, it may not play. We suggest placing an ad break after the first 10 seconds of your episode.