Spotify increases prices on premium subscriptions
Spotify said it's implementing the price increases so it can "keep innovating."
LEARN MOREPosted: 7:18 p.m. EDT Jul 25, 2023
Audio-streaming service Spotify set a record for itself, gaining a net of 36 million new monthly active users in its last quarter, the app revealed on Tuesday. That is the highest quarterly gain in the company's history.
Despite Spotify's growing paid and free user numbers, the company is still not profitable.
In April, Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek said that the company's ability to gain more and more monthly active users and subscribers "even surprised us," he said.
Ek said the company has been focused on improving profit margins for 2023.
This year Spotify made several cost-cutting decisions, including cutting head count for its podcast business by around 200 people, which ended up negatively impacting the company's stock at the time.
The company said on Tuesday, "Spotify had a very strong quarter. We beat guidance and welcomed more users and subscribers than expected, with growth continuing to come from markets all over the world."
Spotify said it has released new "personalized experiences" for users along with other tools that are used by advertisers, as part of its efforts to increase revenue.
Spotify says its ad-supported revenue has grown by 12% across almost all regions. This growth was also seen in the company's podcast revenue at over 30%, the streaming service said.
Ek said of its user growth in developing markets, "If you think about the world's population of 7 billion, the reality is the vast majority of that 7 billion are in developing markets like China, India, Southeast Asia, etc. And so I'm actually just happy that we're cracking those markets."
