This is an archived page from 2021. Find out more
Spotify reported quarterly earnings Wednesday morning and said most major metrics – subscriber growth, revenue, gross margin, and operating income – performed better than expected. The exception was monthly average users where the company fell short of its guidance range.
Spotify’s Premium subscribers grew 20% year-over-year to 165 million in the quarter, towards the upper end of its guidance range and modestly ahead of forecast. 7 million subscribers were added in Q2, which helped Spotify drive double digit year-over-year growth across all regions. The company has 365 million monthly active users.
At the end of Q2, Spotify had 2.9 million podcasts on the platform (up from 2.6 million at the end of Q1). The company says the percentage of monthly average users that engaged with podcast content on its platform improved modestly relative to Q1. Among monthly average users that engaged with podcasts in Q2, consumption trends were strong (up 95% Y/Y in aggregate and more than 30% Y/Y on a per user basis) while week-over-week and month-over-month retention rates reached all-time highs. During the quarter, podcast share of overall consumption hours on the Spotify platform also reached an all-time high.
Although they did not give any metrics the company reported that The Joe Rogan Experience “continues to perform above expectations.” Praise was also given to The Bill Simmons Podcast.
Internationally, Spotify released 100 new Originals & Exclusives podcasts across markets including 5 adaptations of existing formats.