UPDATE: Spotify has told us that the “potential is there” for the video player to expand beyond ads, though it’s not a near term goal. Fingers crossed.
If you’re procrastinating this fine Friday on Spotify, don’t be surprised if you see a new type of ad crop up. The music streaming service has just launched its own video player for playing movie trailers inside the app window. And it looks just perfect for playing music videos in too, wouldn’t you say?
Xbox could learn a thing or two from Spotify when it comes to dashboard ads. If you’re a non-paying user, you’ll soon start seeing a Flash based trailer for crime film remake The Taking Of Pelham 123 start popping up inside Spotify’s window.
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It’s a smart idea and no more obtrusive than a regular audio ad interrupting your Spotify playlist (Let’s be honest here, Denzel’s tones are far more welcome than Zane Low’s grating babble), but the real potential here is to expand the Spotify Video Player beyond advertising. Spotify could well be priming it for music videos too: a hole itching to be filled after YouTube’s recent spats with the record industry.
Spotify hasn’t let slip any plans to expand to this yet, but we’re hoping the idea of a Spotify TV service to take on the likes of Hulu and MSN is at least on the table.
Out TBC | £TBC | Spotify
