In December, Spotify announced a multi-year partnership with the Sussex’s company, Archewell Audio. The number of podcasts offered has more than tripled in a year, from 700,000 in the final quarter of 2019 to 2.2m at the end of 2020, with deals now in place with a huge range of presenters.

“We have increasing conviction in the causal relationship between growth in podcast consumption driving higher and retention among our user base.” “We are confident that podcast usage has been a factor in the accelerated net additions,” said Daniel Ek, founder and chief executive of Spotify, in a letter to shareholders.

Premium subscribers grew 14% year-over-year to 188 million, 6 million above the first quarter's total and slightly above company guidance of 187 million.A quarter of all users engaged with podcast content in the final three months of 2020 in what Spotify sees as validation of its decision to spend millions on a roster of new talent in a strategic shift beyond music. Net additions of 19 million represented the company's largest ever Q2 growth, with expectations set even higher than anticipated for Q3 at 450 million. The audio giant reported second quarter gross margins that disappointed at 24.6%, missing estimates of 25.2% as the streamer spent big on non-music content.Īt the same time, monthly active users grew 19% year-over-year to 433 million, 5 million above guidance. Spotify shares have struggled so far this year, down nearly 65% year-to-date as investors weigh the company's larger profitability struggles. The move would put ByteDance in direct competition with popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Music ( AAPL), and Amazon Music ( AMZN). Currently, Resso is only available in India, Indonesia, and Brazil. Spotify stock ( SPOT) erased gains on Wednesday after a new report from The Wall Street Journal revealed that TikTok parent company ByteDance has begun talks with music labels to expand its music-streaming service, dubbed Resso.Īccording to the report, ByteDance wants to eventually integrate the service with social media juggernaut TikTok - a platform known for discovering new music and making songs go viral - as the company looks to expand the offering into more global markets.

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