Spotify has said that its ad-supported streaming revenue has hit an all-time high in its Q4 2023 earnings report, growing 12 per cent year-on-year.
Drilling down into the results, Spotify said that its ad-supported music revenue grew “double-digits” thanks to growth in the number of impressions sold and stable pricing.
Podcast advertising revenue, on the other hand, grew in the “healthy double-digit” range driven by an increase in the number of impressions sold across Original and Licensed podcasts and the Spotify Audience Network. However, this was hampered by some softer pricing. The Spotify Audience Network saw “double-digit” quarter-to-quarter growth in participating publishers, shows and advertisers.
Spotify’s Premium (or ad-free revenue) grew 17 per cent year-on-year to €3.2 billion ($AU5.2 billion) reflecting subscriber growth of 15 per cent year-on-year.
“We ended 2023 with strong Q4 performance, as all of our KPIs met or exceeded guidance. Monthly active user net additions of 28 million surpassed guidance by 1 million. Subscriber net additions of 10 million were also ahead by one million,” said the company in its earnings release.
It has been a time of flux at Spotify with the company making 17 per cent of its total workforce redundant at the start of December — including its advertising boss Dawn Ostroff. It also announced an end to its exclusive podcast deals last week with the Joe Rogan Experience becoming available on all platforms, despite the controversial host signing a new deal worth up to $AU380 million with the streamer.
