Spotify is Now Offering Video Courses in the UK

Spotify is now offering a selection of video courses in the UK to complement music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The learning courses can be watched on desktop and mobile, and Spotify free and Premium users will be able to trial at least two lessons per course for free before purchasing additional lessons.

“Testing video courses in the U.K. allows us to explore an exciting opportunity to better serve the needs of our users who have an active interest in learning,” said Babar Zafar, VP of Product Development at Spotify. “Many of our users engage with podcasts and audiobooks on a daily basis for their learning needs, and we believe this highly engaged community will be interested in accessing and purchasing quality content from video course creators.”

The company has teamed up with various educational tech companies such as BBC Maestro, PLAYvirtuoso, Skillshare, and Thinkific to bring this first selection of video courses to the app. The content is currently organized into four categories (make music, get creative, learn business, and healthy living), though learning courses can only be purchased on the desktop (again, only if you’re in the UK).

On the Spotify mobile app, users in the UK will see course videos show up in the app’s Home and Browse tabs. While many users may see these new video courses as an unnecessary distraction in what started as a music streaming app, the Spotify team used its own data to justify the experiment. “About half of Spotify Premium subscribers have engaged in education or self-help-themed podcasts,” the Zafar said today.

We don’t know yet if Spotify plans to expand these video-based learning courses to more markets beyond the UK. Earlier this month, the company also started rolling out music videos for Premium members in the UK and 10 other markets.