STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Spotify Technology SA on Tuesday reported second-quarter results that comfortably beat expectations for both monthly active users and subscribers, and forecast the number of listeners each month would reach 572 million next quarter.
After laying out plans last year to get 1 billion users by 2030 and to reach $100 billion revenue annually, Spotify has been growing at a rapid clip, but its costly expansion into podcasts and audiobooks have hit margins.
The number of monthly active users rose to 551 million in the quarter, beating Spotify’s guidance and analysts’ forecasts of 526.8 million.
Premium subscribers, who account for most of the company’s revenue, rose 17% to 220 million, topping estimates of 216.6 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The growth was driven by marketing campaigns and as more listeners signed up in countries across Europe, Latin America and Asia.
However, its quarterly revenue was 3.18 billion euros ($3.51 billion), below analyst estimates of 3.21 billion euros.
Spotify on Monday raised prices for its premium plans across several countries but expects those increases to have a minimal impact on revenue in the quarter.
It expects premium subscribers to reach 224 million in the current quarter and revenue of 3.3 billion euros. Analysts were expecting subscribers of 222.4 million and revenue of 3.40 billion euros.
Shares were up 2% in premarket trading.
($1 = 0.9056 euros)
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, Editing by Louise Heavens)
