Spotify subscribers pull further ahead of Apple Music, but …

Spotify has pulled additional forward of Apple Music by way of paid subscribers, asserting that it now has 144M towards the last-declared number from Apple at 60M. Apple final shared its subscribers method again in June of final yr, however the lack of replace since then means that progress since then has been comparatively gradual.

Digging into the small print, nonetheless, reveals a mixture of good and dangerous information for Spotify …

Spotify reported that it’s now seeing the very best of each worlds relating to recovering from the impression of the coronavirus disaster.

From a content material consumption standpoint, world consumption hours surpassed pre-COVID ranges through the quarter, and all areas have totally recovered. Consumption traits by platform have returned to regular utilization, together with in-car listening hours which is now above the pre-COVID peak.

Utilization on related gadgets inside the house, which noticed a spike throughout lockdown, additionally
stays above pre-COVID ranges.

There was additionally excellent news on the podcasting entrance.

Q3 was a standout quarter for our podcasting efforts, starting with the July launch of The Michelle Obama Podcast, an Authentic & Unique (“O&E”) podcast that turned the #1 present globally on our platform in July and August, making it our prime summer season podcast. In September, The Joe Rogan Expertise arrived on platform with video functionality and have become the #1 present in all of our English-speaking markets whereas outperforming our viewers expectations.

The corporate says that it now has 1.9M podcasts, and that listening has elevated.

Apple tends to report numbers solely when it hits 10M increments, that means that its 60M quantity might be near 70M by now, however that might nonetheless imply that Spotify has pulled additional forward.

The dangerous information, although, is that Spotify has solely hit that 144M quantity by providing a variety of discounted subscriptions.

The corporate says that Russia was important, but it surely prices decrease costs in rising markets, and common income per person fell by 10%. Paid Spotify subscribers have additionally grown through the Spotify Duo deal, which gives a greater deal for {couples} than Household membership.

The WSJ stories that the corporate turned a (uncommon) revenue in Q3 2019 to a loss in the identical quarter this yr.

Spotify swung to a lack of €101 million, or 58 European cents a share, within the third quarter, from a revenue of €241 million, or 36 European cents a share, a yr earlier. Whereas the corporate has periodically reported a quarterly revenue, executives have stated it should proceed to offer precedence to progress—attracting new subscribers and investing in podcasts.

Picture: Agê Barros on Unsplash

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