Spotify reaches record 751 million monthly users thanks to new wraparound free features

Swedish music streaming giant Spotify saw its user numbers peak last quarter, driven by its year-end “Wrapped” campaign, which collects stats, users’ listening highlights, and new features in its free tier.

The company said it saw a record 38 million new users in the fourth quarter, bringing the total number of active users to 751 million monthly users, an 11% increase over the previous year. Paid subscribers rose 10% to 290 million in the quarter.

Spotify said the “Wrapped” campaign resulted in more than 300 million engaged users and 630 million social media shares in 56 languages.

Revenue was €4.53 billion ($5.39 billion), up about 7% from the previous year, thanks to an 8% increase in subscription revenue. However, the company’s ad-supported business saw revenue decline 4% to €518 million ($616.6 million). Gross margin, an important measure investors watch for signs of improvements in Spotify’s profitability, improved 83 basis points to a record high of 33.1% as the company sold more advertising for podcasts and music.

This strong performance comes thanks to Spotify’s new co-CEOs, Gustav Soderström and Alex Norström. take over He will take over the reins from co-founder Daniel Ek, and will now oversee a company that has far exceeded what it initially intended to do.

After launching as a live music streamer, Spotify has expanded its remit to include podcasts, audiobooks, and even… Physical libraries. It has been launched Music videos Within the app in addition to audio videos, it has doubled down on its retention strategy by adding social features such as group Chats And allow users Share What they listen to. You can even use Spotify to book Concert ticketsor explore The story behind the songs.

The company has also added artificial intelligence features such as AI DJcreated by artificial intelligence Playlistsand now allows users Exclude It is recommended to help them customize what they listen to best.

Profitability has been a big focus for Spotify in recent years, and the company has tried to achieve this by Increase subscription prices In the United States and Europe. It is too New features added to its free, ad-supported tier to lure more people away from competitors like YouTube Music and Amazon Music, allowing users to search for and choose the songs they want to listen to.

The company expects to reach 759 million users and 293 million paid subscribers in the current quarter.