I’ve seen many ads on paid Spotify. Large banners advertising podcasts on opening the app, a “podcasts to look at” row in the home page. They’re thankfully less frequent as of late, though.
Erm - those aren’t ads? If you’re already paying and there is product on the shelf of the store you’re already inside of… that’s just a product.
Yeah, that's like saying YouTube's recommended videos are ads. Sure, they promote stuff, but they're a completely different category to the drivel they run before videos, where I have to watch commercials for products I'd never use. One is promoting the platform's content, one is going "Get yourself to Aldi and buy a pipe cleaner! Now!"
I hate this. My home screen used to display things like new releases I might like (separate from the release radar playlist). Now I more often see droves of podcasts I don't care about and have ever expressed interest in.