Spotify recently registered its user base going beyond 345 million worldwide. And now, a quarter of its users are also listening to its podcasts.
As per Engadget, a quarter of overall users of Spotify now listen to its podcasts as well. In the announcement of its fourth-quarter earnings, the streamer reported growth in paid users also. Out of the total count, 155 million are paid ones. That’s quite impressive to witness, compared to other rivals.
Spotify: Is it struggling or surging?
In its recent earnings report, Spotify gave credit to its growing podcast user base. About a quarter of all the registered users listen to the service. Thus, it played a crucial part in the increased advertising revenue for the streamer. There’s been a 100 percent year-over-year jump coming from podcast studio.
Speaking of the earnings, then Spotify posted revenues of €2,168 million. It’s an increase of 24 percent on a year-to-year basis. On the other hand, the loss came down to $83 million, compared to $93 million a year ago. Like the rest of the world, COVID-19 emerged as a significant obstacle for the company in 2020. Because various other businesses reduced their advertising expenditure to save cash during the pandemic, but despite that, as per the streamer, it managed to have an increase of interest in its service. New people joined the platform for either music or listening to podcasts.
The streaming portal also said that it would increase its user base further instead of gaining more profits. One of the top podcast shows, The Joe Rogan Experience, has become number one in 17 countries. It became a Spotify exclusive at the end of 2020.
Growing competition in streaming
Meanwhile, the race among the top giants is becoming even tougher every year. Despite the growing podcast portals, the significant interest still seems to be in streaming music. Because even if some people don’t like podcast shows, they listen to different kinds of songs. And to accomplish that, they also have a lot of options these days. Not just Spotify, even Apple Music is slowly becoming one of the go-to platforms for several hardcore music lovers. Then there are other popular platforms like Amazon Music, Tidal, and Pandora as well.
Looking at the constant emergence of multiple streaming services, it seems like the current contenders will surely face significant challenges in the next few years. Because there always comes a phase when the most popular platforms eventually start witnessing a dip. And their users try to begin searching for alternatives better than them. In that scenario, new portals play a crucial role when it comes to grabbing attention.
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