Creating your Promo

To start setting up a Promo in Megaphone, navigate to the Promos tab in the left sidebar and click "Create Promo". 

You'll be greeted with the form to create a new promo. There are three tabs at the top of this page: Promo Details, Targeting, and Delivery. We'll outline how to fill out the information under each of these tabs below.

Promo name is where you'll insert your promo name. Users often title the Promo based on what is being promoted (i.e. driving listeners to Podcast X) and where it's being targeted (promo impressions on Podcast Y).

Flight date(s) is where you will schedule the start and end dates for your promo. The promo will only get inserted into targeted episodes/podcasts during the date range selected here.

Promote a podcast field allows you to select a show in your network being promoted. This will allow you to keep track of your shows being featured across your promos.

If your Megaphone organization is connected to your Chartable dashboard and the podcast is added to both accounts, this field will automatically connect to Chartable and create a SmartPromo for attribution. Learn more here.

If you're using the Promos tool to promote an external podcast & want to track performance, then leave the Promoted Podcast field blank, create a SmartPromo in Chartable, and fill in the Tracking URL field with the pixel from Chartable.

Geotargets can be set when creating your promo, you can choose to target listeners located only in specific geotargets - meaning the promo will only run in the areas designated. You do not have to set up geotargets as the default is set to target all countries. You can choose to target by country, region (state in the US), DMA, city, or zip code. To edit, select "Edit geotargets" and the modal will appear:

Targets* is where you will determine which podcasts, episodes, or tags you want your promo to include and/or exclude.

Include targets lets you select up to 100 podcasts or episodes you'd like to target this promo. You can also target by tags, which will allow you to conveniently group and target a collection of podcasts or episodes. Click "Select inclusions" and you'll be presented with a pop-up box that allows you to target by podcast, episode, or tag. More on targeting by tags is available in this help article.

Exclude targets allow you to choose to exclude content on the podcast or episode level. By choosing "Select exclusions," you can decide which piece of content you would like this promo to not run on, therefore, listeners consuming these targets would not receive this promo.

Device Targeting allows you to optionally limit delivery to a portion of these device types: iOS, Android, or Smart Speaker. By default, this selection is left blank, which will deliver impressions to all devices. Once you checkmark one of these, delivery on this promo will only be sent to listeners with this device.

Position is one of the more important settings for your promo. Most episodes in Megaphone have a set of expected ad locations that correspond with ad locations added to episodes as they are published. The position set in the promo will determine where in the episode the promo will appear (such as the first pre-roll spot, or the second mid-roll spot). You also have the option to mark a Promo as "No Position" meaning it will run in any open spot for a given unit type. You can find out more about positionless promos here.

Priority is used in a tiebreaker between positions. If you have two promos tied in position, the promo with the higher priority (1 being higher than 2, for example) will run instead. If the priority levels are tied, our server will alternate them evenly.

Note: When competing with advertisement campaigns for a given location, Megaphone will always prioritize running the ads (either ads entered on your campaign tab or Spotify Audience Network ads).

The impressions cap should be used only if you'd like to limit the number of impressions delivered by this promo. For example, if you only want this promo to be heard 100,000 times you simply need to enter "100000" in the impressions cap field. For optimal results, we recommend you cushion caps by a margin of roughly 10% for delivery. It's important to note that a cap of greater than 1000 impressions increases accuracy and reduces the likelihood of exceeding the cap.

Pacing will determine the rate at which your promo is delivered. We offer three types of pacing. You can access these definitions at any time by clicking "Edit Pacing".

Frequency capping is a feature used if you'd like to limit the number of times a unique listener consumes your promo within a set period. Set you cap by clicking "Edit frequncy capping". For example, to set up a cap of three impressions per listener every week, fill in "Max of 3 impressions every 7 day(s)" and push "Add cap."

Promo Advertisements

Each promo order will only support a single Third Party Tracking URL.

To be valid, Tracking URLs must:

For more information on Third Party Tracking Pixels, please visit this article.

After you've set up your basics, you'll need to target the promo. First, decide what type of Promo this will be: Pre-Roll, Mid-Roll, or Post-Roll. Most Promos only consist of one ad location, however you do have the option to add more than one/all three. Click the "+" icon under your designated ad type to upload your mp3 file.

If you choose to add more than one audio file per promo, you will then designate its And/Or Selection. For promos with more than one ad slot to be filled, there are two choices depending on your desired outcome:

"AND" (default) – the promo will only execute if all selected ad slots are available to be filled

"OR" – the promo will execute if any of the ad slots are available to be filled. Please note: OR can only be selected after first adding an ad slot to at least two out of the three columns – preroll, midroll, postroll.

Make your promo clickable is a feature for Megaphone publishers who have streaming-powered tools enabled. It allows publishers to make their promos clickable on Spotify to drive listeners to their promoted podcast. See more info on clickable promos here!

As always, for any questions about promo creation, please reach out to us via live chat or by contacting support-megaphone@spotify.com.