Spotify has announced that now a quarter of its users now use on the platform for podcast listening. As reported by Engadget, the company’s user base has also now grown to 345 million.
Spotify has made a major push into the podcasting world in recent months. It has made a number of high profile moves including signing major podcasts to exclusive contracts to try and expand into this territory.
The company also recently acquired podcast hosting service Megaphone back in November. This accompanied the acquisitions of Anchor and Gimlet back in 2019.
Spotify also has plans to roll out video podcast support to all users. The last we heard of this was back in August when support was still limited but the expectation was that this would expand.
Now in a fourth-quarter earnings announcement, it seems like Spotify is making a success of its investment into podcasting. The company also made major growths in other areas of the business including its paid user uptake.
Spotify makes big claims in fourth-quarter announcement
Spotify announced that of the 345 users 155 million are paying customers. The company also saw significant advertising revenue increase which we can attribute to the increases in its podcasting portfolio. This area of the business saw a 100 percent year-over-year.
The company posted quarterly revenues of €2,168 million. This adds up to an increase 24 percent year-over-year, although this was limited by the depreciation of the US dollar.
This overall resulted in a quarterly loss of $83 million, down from the $93 million it posted last year. The effects of COVID-19 did have a major impact on the company. The pandemic caused a reduction in their advertising spend to conserve cash.
However, the company did say that interest had rebounded by the end of 2020. Spotify continues to focus on growing its user base rather than searching a profit in the short term despite another loss.
Looking forward to 2021 the company projected conservatively. Spotify expects sign ups to slow slightly following a spike during the pandemic.
The company expects to reach 427 million total subscribers by the end of this financial year. It also expects to lose anything up to €300 million throughout the same time period.
To try and combat some of this lose Spotify will raise its premium rates in a number of territories. These losses must become concerning at some point and the company will hope that the investment in getting Spotify users engaged in its podcast portfolio pays off financially soon.