Spotify ads at the start of or in between podcasts in a queue mess up audio & queue itself

[Oldno7bh]

Plan

Premium

Country

Device

(Pixel 7A)

Operating System

( Android 14 - Upside Down Cake)

My Question or Issue

The Spotify ads, usually 15 or 30 seconds, inserted before a podcast or in between them in a queue, completely ruin either the audio or the queue itself. Most of the time, the ad will play and when the podcast starts there's no audio. Sometimes I can skip through the ad and it will land correctly into the content, or I have to skip foward and back within the content to get the sound working. This is annoying, but not the end of the world.

What is happening more frequently now, is the ad will play, and whether I try skipping through or not, my queue is gone and it just plays a random podcast in "my episodes." Sometimes I have to restart the app to even get it to play at all. 

It's very frustrating when you're trying to be hands free for driving or cooking, and I have to fix something MOST of the time when the next podcast is supposed to start.

This is not a complaint about the ads themselves - 15 sec/30 secs that I can skip through, whatever. I get it. You gotta do what you gotta do to keep the music side up. - which is mostly flawless. But this podcast thing is frustrating the heck out of me.

[Austen_R]

When I go to play certain episodes of my favorite podcast, it will play the ads, but the audio will shut off as the episode is about to start. It will completely exit out of the audio and will appear as though I've just opened the app. So far, I've only noticed it with one podcast.

[Dessi]

Hi there @Oldno7bh,

Thanks for reaching out!

Does this happen across all podcasts or only with specific ones? Can you test this out on a different device and with a different connection if possible? 

It'd also be great if you can make a screen recording the next time you get an ad when listening to a podcast, so that we can have a closer look at what's happening. If the file is too large to attach, you can upload it to Google Drive (make sure to allow general access to the file) or as an unlisted YouTube video.

We'll be on the lookout for your response.

[Oldno7bh]

screen-20240814-110711.mp4
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Connection doesn't seem to matter, as it happens when I'm solely on cell
service or solely on home wifi.

It seems to happen more with these Kinda Funny podcasts. Attached is coming
out of wth, ad gets inserted, fails to launch next podcast in queue, I try
restarting podcast manually, and launches, then podcast fails to launch. On
the last time, I'm able to skip through and get it to start.
Thanks,
BH

[Ivelina]

Thanks for the response @Oldno7bh!

Would you mind trying to share the video with us once again? You should be able to attach it to your next response via the Insert Video option in the post editor or instead upload it to Google Drive in case the file it too big.

Appreciate you giving this a try with a different internet connection. Could you test even on another device and let us know if the same behavior persists?

Lastly and if you haven't already done this, it's a good idea to give Spotify a clean reinstall as it helps resolve different performance issues and you can follow the steps in this help article.

Because you mentioned the podcasts this happens with, if there's no change feel free to send us the link(s) to the content so we can also test from our end.

Hope to hear from you soon 🙂