Spotify is not just a music service anymore. The investment in podcasts was a great move

Spotify is more than just a music service. This is also seen in earnings.

The largest streaming website in the world has changed, and most users probably have not even noticed it. What's different readers of Spider's Web who have known for months that Spotify is a new podcast.

Since the service for the first time introduced programs to its library, more than two years have passed. During this time Spotify not only invested hundreds of millions of dollars. in studios producing podcasts , but also completely changed the stylistic weight of its mobile application , shifting it from close concentration to music, to the balance between music and broadcasts. Soon, Spotify also plans to plow the traditional radio, joining the daily playlists with interleaves intertwined with information from the world.

The effects of these activities were already visible in the previous financial report , which revealed that the service eventually bounces off the bottom. Of course, according to predictions, Spotify has not yet come out in the quarter "plus" - the service again showed losses, amounting to over 3.3 million dollars.

However, the results published by the website reveal that this situation may change soon. The company's revenues grew again, both on the side of subscription fees and advertising. The loss dropped significantly, because in the previous quarter it was not 3.3 million dollars, and 47 million dollars. As we read in the shareholder report , this quarter saw a 2.5 times higher revenue growth than operating costs, despite huge funds invested in podcasts. And with this business scale, it's really a big thing.

Interestingly, while Spotify has recently lost to Apple Music in North America, it is so popular in Europe. As much as 40 percent all subscribers come from the Old Continent, while in the New World there are 30% of them. The remaining 20 percent and 10 percent it's Latin America and the rest of the world, respectively.

It certainly has its source in the market coverage of Apple equipment, which is much higher in North America than in other regions of the world. And as Apple's financial results show , the Cupertino giant finally learned to sell its customers not only equipment, but also services, so where the equipment with a bitten apple is the most, Apple's services are also the most.

Spotify did not earn in this quarter, but it has more and more recipients

50 percent

The number of podcast listeners in the platform grew only during the last quarter, which means almost a twofold increase compared to the previous year. The number of subscribers paying for the service has also increased - currently as many as 108 million people pay for Spotify, which is a 9% increase compared to the previous quarter. Altogether, 232 million people use Spotify, or 7 percent. more than last quarter.

Only in Q2 2019, more than 30,000 came to the Spotify library. new podcasts, and in the near future there will be even more, including exclusive programs. For this purpose, Spotify acquired the studies of Paracast and Gimlet in the United States, Adam och Kompani in Sweden and 3 Shots of Tequila in Great Britain. The service also signed a long-term contract with Higher Ground, which belongs to Barack and Michelle Obama, which will produce exclusive content for Spotify.

So the real offense of podcasts in Spotify is being prepared and there is no doubt that with such a sharp increase in the popularity of online broadcasts Spotify will start investing in its own studios also in other countries, perhaps also in Poland.

Such a rapid growth of podcast listeners can mean one more thing for Spotify - a significant extension of the time users use the application, as well as the growing subscriber loyalty. Podcasts usually last from half an hour up, so much longer than the average song. Of course, we usually listen to podcasts where we would otherwise listen to music, but the user interested in a given program will be more inclined to continue listening if he would not normally use the application. What's more, if Spotify offers high quality exclusive programs to listeners, they will keep them with them thanks to the inaccessibility of podcast data on other platforms.

In the past, streaming services fought with artists exclusively, which did not serve anyone. Now, judging by the movements of Spotify and Apple, the same services are going to fight with each other on the quality of the original content, which they will want to convince the audience that it is their applications to choose.

You can not say that podniky #nikogo

If somebody still thinks that podcasts are a niche that is of no interest to anyone except a handful of people from the marketing industry who see a new vein of gold in them, they are greatly mistaken.

Podcasts are a huge market, in addition to a different, also rapidly growing market - voice services. As the technology giants become more and more popular, the market share of audiobooks, voice search and podcasts is also growing. You can not ignore it, you can not not see it. Since even Polish programs over the past year have grown in strength, you can not hide behind the translation that "abroad podcasts may be popular, but do not care about anyone in Poland," because it simply is not true.

And since I belong in the Spider's Web editorial team to a small group that listens to podcasts and which podcasts I respect, I would like - using the opportunity - to submit the following letter to my editorial colleagues:

From:

Łukasz Kotkowski
I will not disclose the address
Slupsk
I will not reveal the number either

Down:

Editorial Spider's Web
The physical address is missing
The number is missing

A call to accept the right

Due to the repeated slandering of the respectable medium of online radio programs (also called podcasts) by some members of the Spider's Web editorial team and regular questioning of the rapid growth of this medium, to which Łukasz Kotkowski regularly wrote on the editorial slack, I call for immediate cessation of these activities.

Based on Article. 24 of the Courtesy Code of Courtesy, I am also calling for the publication of a sincere "well, you were right" on the General channel of the editorial communicator Slack.

The above statement is to be published no later than within 24 hours from the date of publication of this article.

Otherwise, I will be forced to continue to flood the editorial with statistics, which - as can be seen from the financial results of Spotify - underline the very clear upward trend in online broadcasts.

Spotify is not just a music service anymore. The investment in podcasts was a great move