Despite a slow start in the quarter because of the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak, Swedish music streaming service Spotify on Wednesday mentioned that the numbers of monthly active users grew 29 percent year-over-year to 299 million in the second quarter of this year.
At the end of the quarter, the streaming service has 138 million premium subscribers worldwide, a growth of 27 percent year-over-year. Spotify confirmed a total revenue of 1,889 million euros in Q2, a rise of 13 percent year-over-year.
Spotify Numbers Grow Amid Pandemic
Premium revenue grew 17 percent year-over-year to 1,758 million euros. But ad-supported revenue fell 21 percent year-over-year as a result of COVID-19, the company said. While ad-supported revenue of 131 million euros was down both year-over-year and sequentially, Spotify said it outperformed its forecast.
"Last quarter we noted a marked deceleration in sales brought on by the global health crisis where the last three weeks in March were down more than 20 percent relative to our forecast. Performance continued to lag our expectations through April and May, but we significantly outperformed expectations in the month of June," the company said in a statement.
Ad Studio and Podcast channels of the company saw double-digit growth and exceeded its expectations. Spotify said that user growth in North America exceeded its expectations and India also outperformed its forecast this quarter thanks to strong performance from marketing campaigns in the region. Latin America and the Rest of the World continue to see the fastest growth, with those regions growing 33 percent and 58 percent year-over-year, respectively, the company said.
(With agency inputs)
