Spotify’s paying users rise to 158 million
Popular music service Spotify has published a report on the results of the first quarter of 2021. The number of paid users of the platform increased to 158 million people. The total number of active users of the service increased to 356 million people, 21% and 24%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.
The music service continues to promote podcasts, seeing them as a way to convert free users into subscribers and opportunities to generate additional ad revenue. According to Spotify, ad revenue has surpassed expectations largely due to developers’ efforts to promote podcasts. The report also states that the total number of hours of listening to podcasts has increased significantly. However, the actual proportion of users interested in them is in line with the previous quarter.
Just yesterday, Spotify officially launched a paid subscription service for podcasts currently available to users of the service in the United States. As part of this offer, podcast creators will not have to pay Spotify any commission to create paid subscriptions for two years. From 2023, the platform will charge a 5% commission, but until then, paid subscriptions are unlikely to generate any additional revenue for the service. The same applies to the Car Thing music player, which is intended for use in vehicle multimedia systems and is currently available free of charge to a limited number of users.
Recently, it was announced that Spotify intends to increase the cost of paid subscriptions for users in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. A possible reason for this decision lies in the fall in the average income of the service per subscriber. According to reports, Spotify earns an average of $ 4.97 per paid subscription, down 7% from the same period last year. The source says the platform’s average revenue per user has declined over five of the previous six quarters.
Perhaps the biggest change in Spotify’s core business will come later this year when Hi-Fi quality music streaming is launched. The service promises that ” music will be delivered in CD-quality lossless audio format .” The cost of the service, within which users will access music in high quality, has not yet been announced.
