AMC Connects With 'Breaking Bad' Fans On Spotify

The final group of episodes of the final season of "Breaking Bad" premiere beginning this Sunday and AMC is reaching out to fans who have accounts on the streaming music service Spotify.

There are "Breaking Bad" audio ads running regularly as part of Spotify's free service. There are also banner ads running which promote special character playlists on Spotify that are tied to the main characters on the show. It's an extensive ad campaign and it is the largest promotion I've seen on Spotify that is tied to a television show.

There are playlists for Walt, Jesse, Skyler, Marie, Hank and Saul and while it's not likely the actors had anything to do with the track selections, they do fit pretty well with the characters. 

It's a clever idea, but sharing the lists is a bit difficult. When you choose a character playlist, you have the option of sharing the playlist on Twitter or Facebook. But clicking that link sends opens up Spotify and drives visitors to the main splash page. Which is great for social media purposes, but it's a terrible usability decision. And if you open up the individual playlist, there is an option to "follow" the playlist. But the playlist names aren't labeled with anything related to "Breaking Bad." Instead, they have names such as "Jesse-Street Smart." Apparently Spotify users are supposed to remember that Jesse is a character on "Breaking Bad" and that's why they're following them.

Hopefully someone will be updating these playlists throughout the remaining episodes, which would be an interesting way to build out the characters a bit in an unexpected way.

Overall, the Spotify character playlists are an interesting idea. But the execution is still somewhat off the mark.