Just as the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, Spotify has added a video-streaming feature to its Android app, with the iOS app expected to receive the same feature in a week or so. Users can access the feature through the Browse tab, where they’ll be able to view short clips from popular content creators like BBC and Comedy Central, similar to what the Discover tab in Snapchat allows. It’s important that this feature becomes successful, because music-streaming isn’t really a lucrative business, and Spotify has been operating on a loss for a while, so it needs another source of revenue if it wants to be around much longer.
Spotify is making a new play for your mobile attention. Starting today, smartphone users of the music streaming service will have a new type of content to consume: Video. Specifically, Spotify’s mobile app now offers short clips from recognizable brands like NBC, Comedy Central, and the BBC. The update comes eight months after Spotify first announced its intention to add video content—alongside podcasts and a new running-focused music feature. The videos, mostly short-form clips from well-known shows, are rolling out to Android users today. The feature will arrive on iOS in “another week or so,” a Spotify spokesperson tells Fast Company. The company hasn’t announced plans to bring videos to the desktop. Spotify’s new videos, which will be buried under the “Browse” tab in the service’s mobile app for now, are somewhat akin to the video content found in the “Discover” tab on Snapchat. While different in their presentation and breadth (Snapchat has invested heavily in video, including exclusive shows), the motivation for both features is obvious: Video ads can be a lucrative new revenue stream.
