Premium Family Plan member - Podcasts showing localised ads

[IvanNZ]

Plan

Premium Family Plan member

Country

New Zealand

Device

Samsung Galaxy 24+

Operating System

One UI v6.1; Android v14

My Question or Issue

Hi everyone, since 8 January 2025, localised ads started playing in the beginning and middle of my podcasts which never happened before. These are localised ads inserted by Spotify rather than in-content ads as part of the podcasts.

So far, I have clean re-installed the app twice (clear cache and data, uninstalled app, restarted phone, deleted com.spotify.music, reinstalled app). Ads are still playing during podcasts.

Our Premium Family plan is paid up and the profile on both the desktop browser and phone Android app show Premium Family under my profile.

Music doesn't seem to be impacted.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[Maxim · Accepted solution]

Hey @IvanNZ,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community.

Spotify advertises that Premium allows users to enjoy ad-free music listening, which is one of its key benefits (as mentioned here). However, it’s worth noting that podcasts, whether you’re on Free or Premium, may still include ads. These can range from host-read endorsements and sponsorships to audio ads within the podcast itself.

Some podcasts also use a feature that dynamically inserts ads into the stream. This is managed by the podcast publishers, giving them more flexibility to add value to their content on Spotify.

It’s understandable that this can cause some confusion since Premium removes ads from music but doesn’t extend to podcasts. I hope this clears things up a bit regarding what’s included with Premium and why you may hear ads in podcasts.

Feedback from users is incredibly valuable, and Spotify is always working to improve transparency and provide more clarity about these features.

Let me know if you have any other questions 🙂

[IvanNZ]

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize podcasters can opt to insert Spotify-generated ads during their segments for all subscriber types. Cheers!

[Maxim]

Hey @IvanNZ,

No worries 🙂 I'm glad I was able to clear things up!

Have a great day.