Spotify has started showing a Skip Ahead button during podcast ads to some Premium users. One tap moves the listener past the entire ad break straight to the show. According to Bumper, people manually skip less than a tenth of ad breaks today, because it takes nine taps. Now it takes one.
Premium-only feature in selected markets
The button currently appears only to paying Premium users and only in some markets, including the United States and the UK. It works in the mobile app for iOS and Android, on the screen of the podcast being played. It is not yet available on desktop, on the web or on connected devices. One tap skips the entire ad break, including the intro jingles, sponsor messages and mentions of the premium subscription.
Spotify describes this as an early-stage test. “We're exploring ways to make podcast listening and viewing more intuitive for Premium subscribers based on how people use the platform, with the goal of helping listeners spend more time enjoying podcasts,” the company told Podnews.
Ads from networks and independent shows are affected
The button has appeared on ads sold by networks such as Acast and Audacy, by The New York Times, and on Spotify's own shows. Semafor reads this as a feature that bypasses the ads Spotify sells itself and hits the ones sold by publishers.
In both cases, host-read and dynamically inserted ads, which networks and independent shows depend on, are at risk. Advertisers paid a premium for unskippable ad space in podcasts, because it guaranteed that the whole audience would hear the message.
The button also works only within Spotify. Shows that also reach audiences on Apple Podcasts or YouTube keep their ads there.
Spotify used to buy podcasts
Spotify built its podcast business by buying exclusive shows such as The Joe Rogan Experience and The Ringer studio. It built its audio portfolio on exclusive shows and advertising. Now it is giving paying listeners a way around the ads. The test runs only on the paying part of the audience, where the logic of paying for a better experience already exists.
Reaction from creators and networks
Tommy Vietor, co-founder of Crooked Media and host of Pod Save America, wrote to Spotify: “Very cool of @Spotify to try and destroy the podcast industry. What a great partner!” Podnews called the feature a significant threat to ad-funded shows.
Max Tani, media editor at Semafor, added that the button “eliminates the need to listen to even a small fragment of an ad for ZipRecruiter”.
European networks sit on the same model
The advertising model that the button intervenes in is also the basis of European networks. Acast, a podcast monetisation platform with 140,000 shows and more than $600 million paid out to creators, is among the networks whose ads the button has appeared on.
The size of the stakes is shown by American figures. Podcast advertising revenue in the United States reached roughly $2.86 billion in 2025, up 17.6% year on year, according to a joint report by the IAB and PwC. European podcast advertising rests on the same host-read and inserted advertising that the test bypasses.
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