Spotify reaches 100m subscribers as revenue jumps 33% in Q1

Spotify has reached “an important milestone” by hitting 100 million global paying subscribers.

The Swedish streaming service made the announcement in its Q1 report.

Figures show it added 25 million payers (up 32%) in the last year and 4 million (up 4%) quarter-on-quarter.

It expects to reach 117—127 million premium subscribers by the end of this year.

Spotify also tips the number of its monthly active users (MAUs) – currently 217 million after growing 26%year-on-year and 5% in the last quarter – to grow by between 23% to 27% to hit 245— 265 million by December 2019.

There have been reports that Apple Music has overtaken Spotify in the US.

But these figures show that Spotify is the undisputed global leader.

Apple Music, which had 50 million paying subscribers at the end of 2018, is expected to update earnings later tonight (Australian time).

The average revenue per user (ARPU) was set at €4.71 (A$$7.46).

The firm told investors: “Downward pressure on ARPU has moderated, and we expect that ARPU declines through the remainder of the year will be in the low single digits.”

Spotify’s total revenue in Q1 stood at a better than expected at €1.51 billion ($2.39 billion), up 33% year-on-year.

In what must be good news for the company, 92% of revenue came from premium/ subscription, at €1.39 billion ($2.2 billion), which grew 34% from the year before and 5% from the last quarter.

Ad-supported revenue of €126 million ($139.7 million) grew 24% year-on-year but was significantly down 28% on the €175 million ($277. 4 million) generated in Q4 2018.

Total revenue for 2019 is forecast to be €1.51—€1.71 billion, ($2.39 billion – $2.71 billion) up 18-35% year-on-year.

Spotify declared its operating losses – which totalled €47 million ($74.5 million) in Q1 – was better than expected, due to higher gross profit and lower than expected marketing spend.

But there was no getting away from the fact that after showing profitability in the last quarter of €94 million ($149 million), it has slipped in this regard, making that a one-off.

The company ended Q1 with €1.7 billion ($2.6 billion) in cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short term investments.

Among its achievements through the year, its new Spotify Publishing Analytics, which allows publishers to see when their songs are added to playlists and why they are spiking, has been engaged by 40 major publishers around the world.

The number of podcast creators using Spotify for Podcasters, launched in beta last October, “has nearly doubled in the first six months.

“More than 20,000 podcast teams are now using the platform on a monthly basis.

“Additionally, more than 50,000 shows have been submitted.”

After launching in India in February, Spotify said it has now reached 2 million users there.

India was Spotify’s 79th country of operation.

The company also stated: “We believe that voice speakers are a critical area of growth, particularly for music and podcasts, and we intend to continue to pursue opportunities to expand our presence in that area.”