Amazon Music has now 55 million listeners and is testing audio ads

Spotify and Apple Music has a competitor with millions of users. Amazon last month announced that it has now over 55 million customers globally. According to Amazon, subscriptions to Amazon Music Unlimited grew by more than 50% last year alone.

“Our strategy is unique and, like everything we do at Amazon, starts with our customers. We’ve always been focused on expanding the marketplace for music streaming by offering music listener’s unparalleled choice because we know that different listeners have different needs. As we continue to lead in our investment in voice with Alexa, and in high-quality audio with Amazon Music HD, we’re excited to bring our customers and the music industry even more innovation in 2020 and beyond,” said said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music.

Amazon Music is available in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Cyprus, Malta, Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Iceland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, and Gibraltar..

Prime members have access to two million songs at no additional cost to their membership, and for $7.99/month or $79/year, members can upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited.

Audio Ads on Amazon Music

Users without a Prime membership, or a subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited, are able to listen to an ad-supported selection of top playlists and stations for free, similar to Spotify.

Amazon started to have audio ads last year, to take on Spotify and Pandora. It’s not clear how many of the 55 million listeners are active, and what is the reach of the audio ads on Amazon Music.

Last year, in a sales pitch shared by AdAge, Amazon was offering audio ads with:

• Exclusive Amazon audio inventory on Alexa;
• 1MM+ guaranteed audio impressions (untargeted);
• Reporting on impressions and audio completion rate;
• Audio impressions on Alexa-enabled devices with a screen are accompanied by a companion;
• and image (non-clickable).