Spotify published its financial results for Q1 2021 today (April 28), revealing that its global Premium Subscriber base grew to 158 million in the quarter (ended March 31).
That was up 21% year-on-year, but up by just 2%, or 3 million subscribers, on the 155m that SPOT counted at the end of the prior quarter (Q4 2020).
The company’s total global Monthly Active Users, (MAUs), meanwhile, grew 24% year-on-year to 356m in Q1 2021 and by 3% compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2020) when the platform counted 345m MAUs.
Spotify’s Premium subscriber growth translated into Premium revenue of €1.931 billion (approximately $2.35bn) for Spotify in Q1, which was slightly up (2%) on the €1.887bn ($2.226bn) generated in the prior quarter (Q4 2020) and up 14% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Spotify’s ad-supported revenue hit €216m ($262.8m) in Q1, down 23% on the €281m ($341.9m) generated in the prior quarter (Q4 2020), but up 46% year-on-year (see below).
Spotify’s Ad-Supported MAUs grew by 9m (4%), from 199m in the prior quarter (Q4 2020) to 208m in Q1, and by 45m (27%) on the 163m ad-supported MAUs counted in the same quarter in 2020.
Spotify’s Premium Subscriber growth (to 158m subs) hit the top end of the company’s guidance range of between 155-158m for the quarter.
In a letter to shareholders, Spotify writes that its “subscriber outperformance” was “fairly broad based and led by North America, where we saw stronger than expected performance of Trials & Campaigns and faster than anticipated growth in our Standard product”.
Spotify says that it also “saw outperformance” in Latin America, “driven by the continued success of our Family Plan product”.
Additionally, SPOT writes that it is “pleased with the new market contributions, with South Korea being the biggest driver”.
Including South Korea, Spotify launched in a total of 86 new markets in Q1 2021.
Europe accounted for 40% of Spotify’s Premium Subscriber base in Q1, followed by North America (29%), Latin America (20%) and Rest of World (11%).
Spotify’s guidance for Q2 2021 includes total MAUs of between 366-373 million, total Premium subscribers of between 162-166 million and total Revenue of €2.16-€2.36bn.
The company’s guidance for the full year includes total MAUs of between 402-422 million, total Premium subscribers of between 172-184 million of between €9.11-€9.51bn.
“We are pleased with our performance in Q1,” writes Spotify in its investor update.
“The business delivered subscriber growth and Gross Margin at the top end of our guidance range, a continued improvement in ARPU, and operating income better than plan.
“We saw greater MAU variability this quarter, but results were within our range of expectations given the outperformance in Q4 and the continued impact from COVID-19.”
“2020 was a very strong year for Spotify and we believe Spotify is well positioned to continue to extend our leadership globally as we move forward.”
Spotify CEO and founder, Daniel Ek, said: “I’m pleased with the continuing momentum we are seeing across many aspects of our business this quarter, including our subscriber growth.
“2020 was a very strong year for Spotify and we believe Spotify is well positioned to continue to extend our leadership globally as we move forward.”
All EUR to USD currency conversions for Q1 2021 in this story have been made using the rate provided by Vivendi in its Q1 2021 results.
All EUR to USD currency conversions for Q4 2020 in this story have been made using the rate provided by Vivendi in its full year 2020 results.Music Business Worldwide
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