Spotify Recruits Google and LinkedIn Execs for European Ad Sales Drive

Having begun a major international recruitment drive last year, music streaming service Spotify has expanded its advertising sales leadership across Europe—with hires from Google and LinkedIn set to join in the coming weeks. With 406 million active users, the business has announced that it will increase its ad sales and ads business marketing team by 70% across Europe Australia and Canada to capitalize on its growing global audience. In January, Spotify hired Kristiana Carlet as its head of international advertising sales. Carlet joined from Yahoo, where she was vice president of international sales, having spent over 20 years with the business across its various incarnations. The European Spotify Advertising team, led by Rak Patel, who was promoted a year ago, will see the addition of Yves Brunschwiler, head of performance specialists at Google. Brunschwiler will become its head of sales for Central Europe across Germany and Austria, while Christine Jolly, head of agencies and channel for LinkedIn, will become head of sales for Western Europe across France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Spotify confirmed the hiring of both, who will start in their new roles over the coming weeks. Brunschwiler has been with Google for over a decade, holding his most recent role for less than six months, while Jolly joined LinkedIn in 2018 after almost 17 years with Yahoo. International revenue growth In October, Reuters reported that Spotify aimed to hire hundreds of sales professionals to boost revenue growth across Europe, Canada and Australia. In an interview with the news outlet, Lee Brown, Spotify’s global head of advertising, explained: "We're investing in our advertising business. As far as long-term strategy, I think gone are the days of advertising being less than 10% of our overall revenue." Subsequently, in February, the company reported record fourth-quarter revenue of $3.025 billion, 25% up year over year, of which advertising revenue contributed $443 million—less than a sixth of the total revenue, which was predominantly driven by premium revenue of $2.58 billion. Speaking during an investor call about the advertising side of the business, chief executive Daniel Ek said that it had grown by 40% in the last 12 months: “Advertising is showing more proof points of being the second key revenue driver for the overall business, climbing to a record 15% of our total revenues this quarter. And while the ad business is more prone to seasonal blips, I see this momentum continuing … And as a result of this strong performance, we will continue to test different windowing strategies for our exclusive podcast partnerships to get the advantage of that broader audience reach.” Spotify Tells Potential Advertisers, ‘All Ears on You’ In recent days, the platform has stopped streaming in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine—and the introduction of a law against the spread of “fake news” as the country aims to jail those who share information which challenges the government's propaganda messaging. "Spotify has continued to believe that it's critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information from the region," Spotify said in a statement to the BBC. "Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify's employees and the possibility of even our listeners at risk." To heighten its European ambitions further, Spotify also agreed to a sponsorship deal with Spanish soccer giants Barcelona FC, which sees it pick up the naming rights for its famous stadium Camp Nou. The deal will also see the men's and women’s teams bear the streaming service’s logo on their shirts for the next four seasons.