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Premium subscribers, which account for nearly 90% of its
revenue, stood at 124 million for the three months ended Dec.
31. Analysts on average were expecting 122 million paid
subscribers, according to FactSet.
The company also forecast first-quarter premium subscriber
numbers largely in line with estimates. It expects total premium
subscribers in the range of 126 million to 131 million for the
first quarter compared with the estimate of 128 million,
according to FactSet Estimates.
Spotify has a big lead over its two closest rivals - Apple Music
had more than 60 million subscribers as of June and Amazon had
over 55 million subscribers globally.
Spotify, which has banned political ads ahead of the United
States presidential election, has also seen its podcasts such as
"The Joe Budden Podcast" and "My Favorite Murder" gain a loyal
following, while bringing in ad dollars.
Spotify ran several promotional campaigns in the quarter,
including one with "3 months on us" intro offer for new users,
and a win-back offer for returning customers.
Revenue rose to 1.86 billion euros ($2.05 billion) from $1.50
billion euros a year earlier. Analysts were expecting revenue of
1.89 billion euros, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
It also forecast first-quarter revenue largely below estimates.
Spotify expects total revenue in the range of 1.71 billion euros
to 1.91 billion euros for the first quarter. Analysts were
expecting revenue of 1.90 billion euros.
The company reported a loss attributable to shareholders of 1.14
euros per share for the fourth quarter.
Shares of the Swedish company were up 2% at $158 before the
bell.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru and Kenneth Li in
New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
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