Spotify has 163 million free, ad-supported users, and an impressive 130 million paid subscribers, the streaming music giant announced Wednesday in its financial earnings for Q1 2020. These premium subscribers are up 6 million from the end of the previous quarter, and 30 million year-on-year.
While Apple hasn’t released updated Apple Music subscriber figures for a while now, it last announced 60 million paying customers last summer. Although Apple Music has reportedly experienced a nice bump while people are stuck home during lockdown, that suggests that Spotify is still enjoying a comfortable lead in the streaming war.
On the earnings front, Spotify recorded revenues of 1.848 billion euros (approximately $2 billion) for Q1 2020. It also posted a 1 million euro net profit for the quarter.
“Despite the global uncertainty around COVID-19 in Q1, our business met or exceeded our forecast for all major metrics,” Spotify noted, as reported by TechCrunch. “For Q2 and the remainder of the year, our outlook for most of our key performance indicators has remained unchanged with the exception of revenue where a slowdown in advertising and significant changes in currency rates are having an impact.”
Spotify users’ changing listening habits during COVID-19
Spotify also pointed out some of the changing listening habits during coronavirus. Unsurprisingly, fewer people are listening through their cars. But wearable and desktop browser listens also declined by double digits. However, more people are tuning in to Spotify via TVs and games consoles. These platforms grew “in excess of 50% over the same time period,” Spotify said. Its focus on podcasts is also well-placed, with around one-fifth of Spotify users engaging with podcasts via Spotify.
The comparison with Apple Music isn’t totally straightforward. Apple Music, for instance, does not offer a free tier with the exception of its Beats-1 radio station. Tim Cook has also previously said that Apple isn’t in the Apple Music game to make money. While that’s not necessarily true (Apple certainly doesn’t want to lose money on products), it speaks to a crucial difference between the two services. Spotify has to make money based on, well, Spotify. Apple Music, meanwhile, can also prove valuable to Apple by drawing more users into the Apple ecosystem.
Nonetheless, at least based on numbers, Spotify is continuing to rule the roost when it comes to streaming music services.
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