The Swedish music-streaming service, Spotify, is planning to introduce video content on its iOS app by the end of the week in the US. 

It has been reported that Swedish music-streaming service, Spotify, will begin rolling out video content on its Android app sometime this week and on the iOS app by the end of next week. The company noted that it will be launched in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., and Sweden. Spotify made this announcement back in May of last year and said that digital content providers included BBC, Comedy Central,  ESPN, Maker Studios, and Vice Media. However, due to testing features in the last few months, everything has been a bit delayed.

As of right now, videos will mainly include snippets of existing shows but a few companies like Tastemade will have original programs specifically for Spotify. Spotify’s VP of product, Shiva Rajaraman, noted that videos will be contextual and based on a person’s individual music liking or simply just web videos that are tied to music. In other cases, videos will be grouped into themed packages like ‘Laughs at Lunch’ or ‘News of the Week’, which are similar to music playlists.

Currently, Spotify is competing with other major video platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat, which all dominate Web videos. This means that the company will have to offer unique content in order to enter the crowded realm. United Talent Agency executive, David Anderson, believes that Spotify will have ‘a solid chance to compete’ due to its technology expertise and elegant user interface. It will be important for the company to offer content that differs from other platforms and according to The Wall Street Journal, they are currently relying on  content partners to do just that.

Video content can help Spotify further differentiate itself from the likes of Apple Music, which focuses primarily on the streaming music aspect and only incorporates videos and clips hosted on Connect. When this feature gets rolled out by Spotify, it is likely Apple Music will either increase their video offerings at some point as well or offer something Spotify doesn’t have because if they don’t, they will be at a disadvantage. Who knows, if Apple doesn’t do anything to up their features, they may even begin to lose subscribers to Spotify.

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