Spotify's Global Sales VP To EXIT

Brian Benedik, VP global head of ad sales at Spotify, is leaving the company this fall, according to Ad Age citing a person familiar with the matter. It’s unclear where he is going or who will replace him, but Spotify is actively searching for his replacement, this person said.

Brian Beneidk

Benedik joined Spotify in 2013 as the VP of North American sales and was promoted to the global role in 2015. He was instrumental in creating Spotify’s third-party measurement services with companies such as Nieslen.

His tenure coincided with strong revenue growth. Spotify reported 24 percent year-over-year ad revenue growth during the first quarter, and measurement-related revenues grew 40 percent, up from 20 percent growth when compared to the same time last year. Programmatic ad sales, meanwhile, saw a 53 percent upswing in the same period.

The company has more than 100 million paid subscribers, but needs to bolster the number of ad supported listeners to warrant its current valuation. Rival Pandora has the largest segment of such users. As a result, Spotify is betting big on podcasts, spending hundreds-of-millions of dollars in areas such as content.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year Benedik was actively promoting the company's big bet on ad supported podcasts, showing off a roster of new, exclusive shows at the event, such as the then-newly inked deal with journalist and broadcaster Jemele Hill.