In spite of COVID-19 and the coronavirus pandemic, Spotify has increased its subscriber base during the second quarter of 2020 ended June 30 by gaining an additional eight million customers who pay for its Premium service and now has138 million paying customers.
Spotify today reported quarterly earnings. “Our business performed well in the second quarter and continues to operate at a high level despite the continuing uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Swedish company wrote in its letter to shareholders.
Ad revenue dropped 21 recent and operating costs went up 48 percent due to licensing deals like the pricey $100 million agreement for The Joe Rogan Experience as a Spotify exclusive.
Paid subscribers, however, increased 27 percent to 138 million.
By comparison, Spotify reported 130 million paying customers in the March quarter. Total revenue for the quarter went up 13 percent to $2.2 billion while quarterly losses increased significantly from this time last year to $422 million, however.
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The company noted that “global consumption hours have recovered to pre-COVID levels” as all regions worldwide, including North America and Europe, have “fully recovered”.
For the September quarter, the company expects between 312 million and 317 million total monthly active users and between 140 million and 144 million Premium subscribers. As for the holiday quarter, the company forecast total MAUs of between 328 million and 348 million, with Premium subscribers potentially totalling between 146 million and 153 million.
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Unfortunately, we can’t directly compare Spotify’s user base to that of Apple Music because Apple hasn’t reported any hard numbers beyond the 60 million paid subscribers in June 2019.
Unlike Spofity, Apple Music does not operate an ad-supported free listening tier.