Spotify Premium subscribers have increased to 158 million in the first quarter of this year

Spotify is soaring with 158 million premium subscribers which is a 21% hike according to the latest earnings report released yesterday. With over 356 million monthly active users, it is a 24% increase year-over-year. In the last quarter, the platform had 155 million premium subscribers and 345 million monthly active users. This online streaming platform is continuing to focus on podcast services not only to generate more revenue but also as a strategy to convert free listeners into premium subscribers. Spotify has declared that its ad-generated revenue has outperformed its podcasting efforts.

To be precise, the platform mentioned about the Joe Rogan Experience, interaction with the celebrities has “performed above expectations.” A strong increase being noticed in the amount of time that listeners are spending over the platform to listen to podcasts. Previously, it was consistent for many months, especially the last quarter. The platform has also announced a launch for podcast subscriptions but the process still ongoing. It’s good news for podcasters since they don’t have to pay for it for next year, until 2023. A similar thing can be noticed in the platform’s Car Thing music player which is given away by the company rather than selling it.

Spotify said that it has earned an average of €4.12 (nearly $4.97) for every premium subscriber which is a decrease of 7% considering the same phase of last year. Its marketing strategy of using discounted plans to attract more subscribers in Russia and India could be the reason. So the platform is looking forward to increasing the pricing system for family and duo plans. However, the company has faced much criticism for not providing enough streaming royalty to the artists. So it is trying to offer more transparency regarding their payments. The platform has made a total profit of €23 million which was only €1 a year before. The renewed pricing system will be announced soon.