Spotify subscribers now double that of Apple Music
Spotify’s reporting on Q4 of 2019 confirm that its premium subscriber numbers have increased by 11 million on the previous quarter, reaching a high of 124 million.
That’s an increase of 29% year on year, with the streaming service also claimed 271m Monthly Active Users (MAUs) globally (31% YoY).
Based on Apple Music’s most recent report of 60 million premium subscribers, Spotify has now more than doubled its closest competitor.
In terms of revenue, total Q4 revenue was up 24% year on year, and full year revenue was up 28.6% to €6.764bn.
“With three consecutive quarters of accelerating MAU growth and another year of record net subscriber additions behind us, we are enthusiastic about the underlying trends in the business,” Spotify told investors.
“From history, we know that MAU growth tends to be a leading indicator of future subscriber additions, which is then followed by revenue gains in both premium and ad-supported users.
“While we believe these trends will continue moving forward, we have been appropriately conservative regarding our 2020 guidance as our data, particularly around the benefits from podcasts, is still reasonably new.”
Spotify pointed to significant growth in podcast consumption on its platform and increased investment in podcasting as a key reason for its growth.
In 2019 there was a 200% growth year on year in podcast consumption hours, while Spotify also launched Your Daily Podcasts and introduced Spotify Podcast Ads, powered by streaming ad insertion.
Spotify has just bought media outlet The Ringer, and boss Daniel Ek has called podcast growth “a global phenomenon”, outlined the company’s plans to become “the world’s number 1 audio platform“.
Meanwhile, the picture when it comes to YouTube streaming services has become clearer, when compared with Spotify and Apple Music.
YouTube Premium and Music now have a combined 20 million subscribers, as of Q4 of 2019, Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai revealed during the company’s latest earnings call.