Source: Deepanker Verma @Pexels

Spotify released its numbers for the second quarter of 2020. The number of active monthly users (MAU) rose to 299 million on the streaming platform, which is a 4.5% increase than previous quarter’s. The year-on-year value for the same jumped by 29% from 232 million last year.

The number of premium subscriptions expanded by 27% year-on-year, standing at 138 million. Most of Spotify’s revenues are generated from these subscriptions which provide users online and offline ad-free listening experience . The number of premium users account for around 90% of the total users. This quarter, the company generated EUR 1,758 mn and EUR 131 mn from its premium and regular users respectively. The ad revenue has declined by a massive 27% year-on-year. They hold the “conservative markets” amid the worldwide pandemic accountable for the drop. However, the total revenue sums up to a massive EUR 1,889 mn, which shows a substantial 13% year-on-year jump.

In the middle of June this year, Spotify had launched in various European markets. Russia, Croatia, Ukraine and Albania are just a few of them. It was launched in India last year. Currently, services are available in 92 countries.

Spotify claims that regions such as EU and APAC have shown improvements in terms of health as the spread of COVID-19 is slowing. This eventually led to the consumption of Spotify’s services. However, performances had lagged in the months of April and May this year.

In a letter to its shareholders, Spotify said, “Consumption trends by platform are beginning to normalize as well; in-car listening at the end of the quarter was less than 10% below pre-COVID levels having recovered from a 50% decline at the trough in April.”

Recently, the Swedish company started testing video podcasts which allows users to view streams as well, from a few content creators. Its streaming ad insertion technology will also expand in the US.