Streaming platform Spotify Technology SPOT reported fourth-quarter and full fiscal year financial earnings after the market close Wednesday. Here are the highlights — and how shares are reacting.
What Happened: Spotify reported fourth-quarter revenue of $2.69 billion, which was up 24% year-over-year.
The company reported monthly active users at the end of the fiscal year of 406 million. MAUs were up 18% year-over-year and up 7% from the previous quarter. Spotify said it had double-digit growth for MAUs in all regions on a year-over-year basis.
Premium subscribers were 180 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter, up 16% year-over-year. The company reported ARPU was up 3% year-over-year for premium subscribers.
Ad supported MAUs were 236 million in the fourth quarter, up 19% year-over-year. The company said ad-supported revenue hit a record 15% of total revenue in the fourth quarter.
Related Link: Analysis: The Winners And Losers Of The Neil Young, Joe Rogan Spotify Brouhaha
What’s Next: Spotify highlighted it recently acquired Findaway and Whooshkaa in the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Shopify also added several promotional partnerships, which could lead to subscriber growth in the future.
The company’s podcast segment could be one to watch going forward, as Spotify announced it expanded to 33 additional markets in the fourth quarter. Overall consumption of podcasts hit all-time highs in the fourth quarter for Spotify’s overall platform.
The company’s podcast from Joe Rogan has generated many headlines and saw musician Neil Young threatened to remove his songs from the platform in protest. Spotify removed Young’s songs after the demand and found itself in a battle against several musicians.
The company said it no longer plans to issue annual guidance for financials. The decision comes as the company said many of its new initiatives are “multi-year in nature.
“We intend to utilize quarterly guidance as checkpoints against our progress and will provide additional thoughts and perspective around 2022 expectations on our earnings call,” the company said.
The company did offer guidance on subscribers for the first quarter. Spotify sees MAUs hitting 418 million and total premium subscribers hitting 183 million. First-quarter revenue is expected to be 2.6 billion euros.
Spotify plans on hosting an investor day in 2022 to update on several long-term operating goals.
SPOT Price Action: Spotify shares lost 5.81% in Wednesday's regular session, closing at $191.92, and were down another 10.25% in after-hours trading.
Photo courtesy of Spotify.
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