What Happens When Skipping Gets Easier?

There has been a lot of conversation in the podcast world over the past week about Spotify testing a new “Skip Ahead” feature. The concept is pretty simple. Rather than hitting the 15-second-forward button multiple times during a podcast, some Spotify Premium users are being given the ability to skip ahead more easily.

Before anyone sounds an alarm, there is some important context. Spotify has been clear that this is a test. The company regularly experiments with features, some become permanent and others do not. Perhaps more importantly, Spotify has reportedly told publishers that its early data suggests the feature may actually lead people to spend MORE time listening to podcasts.

That makes sense. Give consumers increased control over their experience and they may be less likely to abandon an episode altogether. So, I’m not ready to declare the Skip button good or bad for podcasting. We don’t have enough information yet. But I do think it raises two interesting questions for those of us in the audience development and advertising business.

What Will Listeners Choose Not to Skip?

This couldn’t come at a better time for some research we have underway. Point-To-Point Marketing and Strategic Solutions Research are crunching the data now from The Podcast Study 2026, our national study of podcast listeners focused on discovery, loyalty, and monetization.

One area we’re digging into extensively this year is the power of the host. How important is the host to someone’s favorite podcast? What happens when that host isn’t there? What happens if the host leaves altogether? And, especially relevant to this conversation, what happens when that host delivers the advertising?

We’re asking listeners about their preference for host-read versus prerecorded ads. We’re measuring whether a host personally reading and endorsing a product influences purchase consideration. And we’re looking at whether that endorsement makes listeners more likely to notice, remember, trust, and ultimately consider a brand when they encounter it again somewhere else.

We’re even asking about the appeal of a premium tier that removes third-party advertising but keeps host-read ads. We don’t have those answers yet, so I’m not going to predict what the research will tell us, but Spotify’s test makes the questions even more relevant.

If consumers increasingly have more control over the advertising they hear, perhaps one of the most valuable forms of advertising will be the advertising they choose not to skip.

And What Is Radio’s Response?

There is another side to this conversation that I haven’t heard discussed as much: radio.

Every radio seller knows advertisers who have shifted some or all of their audio investment to DSPs. That’s part of today’s competitive marketplace, and DSPs offer advertisers some terrific targeting capabilities. But if consumers continue gaining greater control over which advertising messages they hear, radio has an opportunity to remind advertisers about something it has in abundance: humans.

Local personalities have relationships with their audiences. Listeners know them. They hear about their families, their favorite restaurants, the teams they follow and what is happening in their communities. That is valuable currency for an advertiser.

It doesn’t mean that radio should walk into an advertiser and say, “Spotify has a Skip button, come back to us.” Quite the opposite. The conversation should be about what radio can add to the advertiser’s audio strategy.

Take the targeting and measurement advertisers have grown accustomed to in digital and combine it with a trusted personality who can authentically tell a client’s story. Extend that personality into social, video, streaming, events, and other places the audience spends time.

Podcasting has demonstrated the potential value of the relationship between a host and an audience. Radio has been building those relationships for generations. Maybe that is the opportunity hidden inside all this discussion about a Skip button. The future isn’t necessarily about making advertising harder to skip. It’s about making advertising more worth hearing.

We’ll know a lot more soon. The Podcast Study 2026 will take a deeper look at the relationship between hosts, listeners, and advertisers, along with discovery, loyalty, and monetization. I am especially interested to see what listeners tell us.

Spotify’s test may be about a button, but what listeners decide to skip, and what they decide is worth hearing, could tell us something much bigger.

The Podcast Study 2026

The first public reveal of findings from The Podcast Study 2026 will be presented September 14-15, 2026, at the Sounds Profitable Business Summit in New York City. Following the Summit, Point-To-Point Marketing and Strategic Solutions Research will host a series of free webinars to share the findings, insights, and actionable takeaways with the entire podcast industry.

To receive webinar updates and review findings from last year’s inaugural study, visit ThePodcastStudy.com.

Tim Bronsil: tim@ptpmarketing.com, 513.702.5072