Spotify: Record jump in active users in second-quarter

This performance exceeds analysts’ expectations, who were expecting a total of 529.9 million active users.

The 27% year-on-year increase can be explained in part by the sharp rise in new listeners from ‘Gen Z’, the segment of the population born between 1997 and 2010, according to Spotify.

Buoyed by this increase in the number of subscribers, sales jumped by 11% in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, to €3.2 billion, in line with expectations.

Paid subscribers also rose by 17%, to 220 million users.

Following in the footsteps of competitors such as Apple and Amazon, the group announced on Monday that it was raising the price of its premium subscriptions in several markets around the world.

Nevertheless, the group saw its operating loss widen considerably between April and June, losing €247 million, partly due to restructuring costs and social charges.

In the second quarter of 2022, it had lost €194 million.

In June, the leading music streaming company announced it will cut 200 jobs in its podcasting business. The Swedish platform has invested hundreds of millions of euros in podcasts in recent years.

Despite its position as a market leader, the company has never posted a yearly net profit and only occasionally makes a quarterly profit.