Spotify paying subscribers surpassed 180 million in Q4

The Swedish music streaming company’s total global monthly active users (MAUs) grew from 381 to 406 million in Q4, a 7% increase from the previous quarter and an 18% jump from the previous year.

Premium subscriber revenue grew by 5% in Q4 to reach a total of €2.295bn, and 22% year-on-year. The company’s average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) was €4.40, a 3% increase year-on-year driven by its price increases.

Regarding ad-supported revenue, the company hit €394m, up 22% from Q3 and a 40% increase year-on-year.

Spotify’s ad-supported MAUs increased by 16 million (7%) from 220 million in Q3 2021 to 236 million in Q4. The company says ad-supported revenue reached a record 15% of total revenues in the quarter.

Spotify saw double-digit growth in MAUs in all regions, and singled out India and Indonesia as drivers of the ‘Rest of World’ category. Latin America outperformed the company’s expectations. The music streaming platform said all regions contributed to its paid subscriber growth of 16% year-on-year, led by Europe and Latin America.

Meanwhile, Spotify had a catalogue of 3.6 million podcast, up from 3.2 million at the end of Q3. The platform also expanded its paid podcast subscriptions to creators and listeners in 33 markets including Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Spotify says it would adjust its approach to reporting guidelines for the future. “Going forward, we will simplify our approach by providing a single estimate for each metric instead of a range of outcomes,” the company said.

Spotify’s guidance for Q1 2022 is 418 million MAUs, 183 million Premium subscribers and total revenue of €2.6bn.

“We ended 2021 with strong Q4 results, led by outperformance in MAUs, continued momentum in our subscription business and meaningful advertising results,” a letter sent to shareholders reads. “Looking back on not just this quarter but the past few years, we are increasingly excited about the investments we have made and see meaningful progress within a number of our initiatives. As we move into 2022 and beyond, the opportunities in front of us are large and we see a tremendous amount of greenfield on the horizon.”

The news comes amid ongoing controversy regarding The Joe Rogan Experience, which has seen several big artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pull their music from the platform in protest against alleged anti-vax content broadcast on the world’s most popular podcast. During the company’s earnings call, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek said: “We don’t change our policies based on one creator, nor do we change it based on any media cycle or calls from anyone else”.