STOCKHOLM/NEW YORK: Spotify, the Swedish music-streaming service, has reported that it now has more than 140m users worldwide, but it also confirmed it is still making a loss.
The company, which is widely expected to go public and list on the stock market sometime this year or next, filed its annual financial statement in Luxembourg last week and confirmed its revenue grew by 52% to €2.9bn in 2016.
However, despite the impressive revenue growth, Spotify's operating losses stood at €349m and net losses widened to €539.2m, or more than double the net losses it accumulated in 2015.
On a more positive note, the company also reported that its 140m active monthly users now include 48m paying subscribers, an increase of 20m, which makes it a considerably larger paid-for service than Apple Music, which has 27m subscribers.
Looking at the figures in more detail, Billboard reported that Spotify's overall revenue from its paid subscription model totalled €2.64bn euros, while ad-supported revenue grew to €295m euros.
That meant paid subscriptions grew 52% year-on-year, while ad-supported revenue increased by 50%, leading a senior executive at Spotify to declare that this is an "exciting time" for the company's global advertising business.
Brian Benedik, Spotify VP and Global Head of Sales, said in a blog post that "it’s an exciting time for our Spotify global advertising business", adding that since the company launched its free, ad-supported tier on mobile three years ago, it saw 50% year-on-year growth in 2016.
"As brands are catching on, I'm really excited about the creative opportunity. Brands can mine new audience insights for inspiration and explore dynamic, innovative messaging," he said.
"When you pair the emotional power of music, podcasts, and videos with engaging ad formats, the creative terrain is rife with possibility."
The company, which is widely expected to go public and list on the stock market sometime this year or next, filed its annual financial statement in Luxembourg last week and confirmed its revenue grew by 52% to €2.9bn in 2016.
However, despite the impressive revenue growth, Spotify's operating losses stood at €349m and net losses widened to €539.2m, or more than double the net losses it accumulated in 2015.
On a more positive note, the company also reported that its 140m active monthly users now include 48m paying subscribers, an increase of 20m, which makes it a considerably larger paid-for service than Apple Music, which has 27m subscribers.
Looking at the figures in more detail, Billboard reported that Spotify's overall revenue from its paid subscription model totalled €2.64bn euros, while ad-supported revenue grew to €295m euros.
That meant paid subscriptions grew 52% year-on-year, while ad-supported revenue increased by 50%, leading a senior executive at Spotify to declare that this is an "exciting time" for the company's global advertising business.
Brian Benedik, Spotify VP and Global Head of Sales, said in a blog post that "it’s an exciting time for our Spotify global advertising business", adding that since the company launched its free, ad-supported tier on mobile three years ago, it saw 50% year-on-year growth in 2016.
"As brands are catching on, I'm really excited about the creative opportunity. Brands can mine new audience insights for inspiration and explore dynamic, innovative messaging," he said.
"When you pair the emotional power of music, podcasts, and videos with engaging ad formats, the creative terrain is rife with possibility."
Data sourced from Spotify, Billboard; additional content by WARC staff
