Music streaming company Spotify yesterday said it will launch its advertising marketplace for podcasts in five new markets, including Sweden and India.

The Spotify Audience Network, first launched in 2021, is available in nine countries such as Germany and the United States for podcast publishers and creators to monetize their content, a Reuters report said.

After investing over a billion dollars to build up its podcast business with five million titles and 100 million podcast listeners, Spotify is focusing on boosting advertisement revenue from the format.

“We often hear from our customers that they have been reticent to invest in podcasts because of the lack of audience targeting and challenges reaching podcast listeners at scale,” Brian Berner, global head of advertising sales at Spotify, said.

“The Spotify Audience Network addresses these two challenges head on.” In the latest third quarter, the company’s advertising revenue was up 16 percent from a year earlier and podcast advertising revenue grew in a double-digit range.