Spotify’s monthly active users rose to 515 million in the first quarter of 2023.
Music streaming platform Spotify has crossed half a billion mark for monthly active users for the first time, the company said in its quarterly performance report for January-March. The Swedish company also reported a growth in premium subscribers.
Spotify says that 515 million users use the music streaming platform every month, a year-on-year growth of 22%. The company attributed the growth to be driven by strength in both developed and developing markets, and nearly all age groups. The monthly active users also beat the analysts’ forecast of 500 million, Reuters reported citing IBES data from Refinitiv. The company’s outlook for monthly active users in the second quarter of 2023 stands at 530 million.
“@Spotify‘s strongest Q1 since going public in 2018 and the second largest quarter of MAU growth in our history. Thank you to our teams worldwide for all you accomplished,” Spotify’s chief executive officer Daniel Ek wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, premium subscribers of the platform also rose 15% year-over-year to 210 million, up from the expected 206 million subscribers as per the media report, with outperformance across all regions, led by Europe and Latin America. The company expects that total premium subscribers in the second quarter of 2023 will further grow to 217 million.
However, the company’s quarterly revenue missed the estimates due to macro-related variability in its advertising business. Spotify’s total quarterly revenue grew 14% year-over-year to 3.04 billion euros, led by subscriber gains. This is slightly below the estimates of 3.08 billion euros. The company expects its total revenue to grow to 3.2 billion euros in the April-June quarter.
Additionally, the audio streaming giant reported a net loss of 225 million euros in January-March. This is compared to Spotify’s net income of 131 million euros in the same quarter last year and a loss of 270 million euros in the previous quarter, according to a report by The Verge; adding losses like these are not unusual for businesses that prioritize growth over quarterly profits.
The company hit a milestone during a choppy quarter that witnessed cost-cutting measures like job cuts. Spotify announced in January to let go of 6% of its workforce, impacting nearly 600 employees. “I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth,” Ek said during the layoff announcement.
