Spotify hits 155 million paid subscribers as podcasts continue to grow

Spotify, the world’s most popular music streaming service, continued to post impressive subscriber numbers in recent months and the final quarter of 2020 was no different.

Spotify now has 345 million active users

The Swedish streaming platform ended the year with 155 million paid subscribers, up from 144 million in September and 124 million in late 2019, therefore representing strong year-on-year growth of 24%.

Unlike Apple Music and Tidal, Spotify also offers its customers a free, ad-supported tier which is particularly popular in developing regions. That service now boasts 199 million users, an increase of 30% from the 153 million reported in late 2019.

Europe and North America continue to be Spotify’s biggest and most valuable regions, with the former benefitting from a recent expansion into Russia and surrounding markets.

The Premium Family and Premium Duo plans have proven popular too, and Spotify’s focus on podcasts seems to be working — there are now 2.2 million podcasts on the platform and consumption hours almost doubled.

As is often the case with relatively new companies like Spotify, high growth comes at a cost. The service lost €125 million last quarter, although it’s an improvement over the €209 million loss reported in Q4 2019.

Total revenue, on the other hand, stood at €2.17 billion, up from €1.86 billion in the year-ago quarter. Spotify says it will continue to prioritize subscriber growth over profits for the foreseeable future.