Spotify will be expanding its music video feature to more than 85 other markets, undertaking the most significant rollout yet after the initial limited test release. It has been a very bold move undertaken by Spotify in a bid to improve its premium user experience, aiming to catch up with its competitors such as YouTube.
Spotify Premium Offers Music Videos
Spotify launched music videos in beta this March, making them available to just 11 countries, including the U.K., Brazil, and the Philippines. Egypt joined the list earlier this year.
Now, the firm has added 85 more markets to the feature, although the U.S. is still noticeably absent from this expansion. According to TechCrunch, music videos are, for now, reserved for premium subscribers only, giving them a deeper listening experience.
How Spotify's Music Videos Work
The music videos are available on both the mobile and the desktop versions of the app. Spotify has also made it relatively easy for users to switch between the audio track and its corresponding video with a toggle. The switch from audio to video initially caused the video to start from the very beginning; however, Spotify over time improved functionality in a way that would make the change into formats smoother for users.
The service also introduced video indicators next to track titles in search results, so it's much easier to know that some of the tracks have videos associated with them. Rotating your phone to landscape view allows for full-screen video and a more dynamic viewing experience.
The Advantages of Streaming Music Videos on Spotify
The added videos are part of a broader effort by Spotify to enhance engagement on its platform. Users who discover a song and watch the video for that song are 34% likelier to stream that song the following week, according to the company. All this means music videos will likely be one of the most notable contributors to retention with a user and driving overall streaming numbers.
Competing with YouTube's Music Dominance For years
YouTube has been the go-to Web site for music video junkies because it's natively a video-first service. It's hoping some of that same crowd sticks around and sees its music video feature. While YouTube still sports an outsized share of the market, the service can quickly become a peer -- with all its audio in one place and its easy playback between audio and video.
What's Next For Spotify?
This is interesting as well, considering the expansion in features with regard to music videos also reflects that Spotify truly does care about the improvement of user experience for premium users.
As the waiting line extends to the U.S. market, that's a pretty good signal for the growth of Spotify's efforts in the streaming space for music videos. Whether this will be enough to make people leave YouTube remains to be seen, but it is a major step forward for the streaming giant, for sure.
Spotify introduces music videos for premium users, a very strategic move to engage with users and to compete with YouTube. The company now goes live in 85 new markets to stand against the heavyweights in the streaming business.
In other news, Reuters reported that Spotify began a free streaming option for South Korean users
