 |
| Spotify passes the 300 million mark |
The Swedish audio streaming service Spotify reported sales in its latest release - it now has 320 million monthly active users, an increase of 29% from the previous year.
The number of premium subscribers, who make up the bulk of sales, increased 27% year-on-year to 144 million.
The drive for customer growth is marketing activities in India and the Middle East, as well as services launched in Russia and 12 surrounding markets.
The company said Russia was by far the most successful in entering the new market, and the service had rapidly expanded to the entire European market.
The increase in service subscribers in the third quarter exceeded Wall Street expectations. Strong growth is expected this quarter as more customers become interested in streaming music services.
With the increase in subscribers, Spotify can easily stay ahead of competing services from Amazon and Apple.
According to the Financial Times, Amazon Music Services had 55 million customers in January.
Meanwhile, Apple reported last year that its Apple Music service has 60 million paid users and does not offer any free categories other than promotions and free trials.
Despite the quarterly growth of customers, the service lost another 101 million euros (about 118 million dollars) in the third quarter, and revenue increased 14% to 1.98 billion euros (about 32 billion dollars).
This is less than the estimated profit of 241 million euros a year ago.
One of the reasons for this is that the company is trying to expand its customer base by attracting new customers through discount programs.
Revenue per customer decreased 10% year-on-year to around $ 4.92.
There are currently 1.9 million podcasts available on the Spotify service, compared to more than 1.5 million in the previous quarter.
The service said: In the third quarter, 22% of customers interacted per month with podcast content, up from 21% in the second quarter.
In its income statement, the company said: “The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is now the most popular podcast on its UK market.
The company expects the total number of premium subscribers to range between 150 and 154 million in the fourth quarter.
The service generates revenue from paid subscriptions and revenue from advertising for non-paying customers. After the global pandemic disrupted ad growth earlier this year, the service's ad campaigns have resumed growth.