Spotify’s Podcast Division Hosts 4 Million Podcasts But Isn’t Profitable

Spotify hosts more than 4 million podcasts on its platform, of which a thousand can be heard exclusively through the music platform. The top of the company communicated this to its shareholders. However, the company’s podcast division is not yet profitable.

The board of Spotify shared the news during the Investor Day event† There, the board informed shareholders about the company’s financial forecasts. That board stated that Spotify is active in 183 markets today and that it is on track to reach approximately 1 billion users by 2030. It is not clear how many of those will be paying users. End 2021 Spotify had 180 million paying users and more than 400 million total users.

The company also touched on Spotify’s podcast division. It is not yet profitable according to CEO Daniel Ek. The man states that this division is still in “investment mode”. Spotify executive Maya Prohovnkik said moving podcasts off RSS feeds has created more profit opportunities for the company. She went on to call RSS “an outdated technology”. The company expects its long-term podcast revenue goals to be met as a result of new developments in the podcast advertising market, increasing podcast subscriber numbers and the provision of paid tools for podcast creators.

Spotify also talked about plans it has with audiobooks. Spotify said it sees potential in this market. In December of last year, the company acquired Findaway, an audiobook platform with approximately 325,000 audio titles. Then it became clear that Spotify wants to offer an audiobook catalog.

Spotify Investor Day 2022