Spotify has made a strong start this year, adding 5 million new premium users in the first quarter. This increase, which marks a 12% rise from last year, takes the total number of premium subscribers to 268 million, the second-highest number ever for the company. It also reflects the highest net addition of paid subscribers in the first quarter since 2020.

Strong Revenue Growth and Expanding Reach

Spotify’s report revealed a record-high operating income for the quarter with €509 million (approximately $528 million), despite missing out target mark of €548 million ($625 million) by a shallow margin. For the quarter, total revenue of the company increased by 15% from last year’s €4.2 billion (about $4.8 billion). Currently, the number of monthly total active users on Spotify stands at 678 million, out of which 423 million are active users of the free, ad-supported version. This proves that Spotify is indeed dominating the market in music streaming and continues to keep miles away from competitors like Apple Music and Amazon Music in terms of subscription counts.

Spotify’s podcast expansion:

  • There are now over 330,000 video podcasts available on the platform.
  • More than $100 million have been paid out by the Spotify Partner Program in revenue sharing to podcast creators just for the first quarter.

AI Playlist feature expansion:

  • Spotify has already brought its AI Playlist to more than 40 markets, including the Bahamas, Ghana, Singapore, and Kenya.
  • The feature serves to deliver more individualistic music experiences to users.