Spotify is testing a feature that lets Premium subscribers skip podcast ad breaks with a single tap, according to an exclusive report from Podnews, which found the tool live in shows carrying advertising from competitors Acast, Audacy and The New York Times, as well as in Spotify’s own Bill Simmons show. The company has not announced the feature publicly.

Called “Skip Ahead,” the tool displays a button as soon as an ad break, intro, or sponsorship message begins. One tap moves the listener past the entire section, whether it contains third-party ads or promotions for Spotify’s own premium subscriptions. Podnews calculated that skipping the same ad break manually would otherwise take nine taps of the standard 15-second skip button, plus a correction tap for overshooting.

A Spotify spokesperson told Podnews: “We regularly conduct tests at Spotify; some tests become permanent features, while others help inform future product development. 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.”

Podnews reports the feature is currently limited to Premium subscribers in select markets, including the U.S. and the UK, and that ad delivery into the audio itself is unaffected. One podcast ad company told Podnews the practice could be considered fraudulent, since the ads are charged for and stitched into the audio while listeners are simultaneously being shown a way to avoid hearing them. Data from podcast analytics company Bumper, cited in the report, shows fewer than 10% of ad breaks are currently skipped through manual means.

The test lands as advertising remains a smaller but growing piece of Spotify’s business. In its Q2 2026 shareholder update, published the same day as the Podnews report, Spotify said Ad-Supported revenue grew 1% year over year (3% on a constant-currency basis) to €446 million, with podcasting growth “led by sponsorship gains within our Owned & Licensed portfolio” and automated sales channels remaining “the largest contributors to overall advertising growth.” Premium subscription revenue, by contrast, grew 15% year-over-year to €4.3 billion. Podnews estimates Spotify accounts for at least 25.6% of podcast downloads globally, making it the largest platform in many markets, particularly emerging ones.

Podnews notes Spotify has drawn suspicion from the podcast industry before, pointing to its history of stripping dynamic ad insertion from copied RSS feeds until hosting companies negotiated “pass-through” agreements, and to a 2024 opinion piece from Todd Cochrane warning that trusting Spotify means “you essentially agree to a one-sided relationship where Spotify holds all the power and reaps all the rewards.” The report also flags that Megaphone, the podcast hosting and monetization company Spotify owns, was the host behind a show Podnews separately found running more than eight minutes of ads at the top of an episode.

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