Spotify added 35 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter last year — the most ever in a single quarter — bringing the total number of people streaming on the Swedish music and audiobook platform to 675 million, the company reported on Tuesday.
Premium or paying subscribers totaled 263 million as of the end of last year, an 11% increase over the prior year, and ad supported subscribers rose 12% to 425 million.
The company has been on a cost-cutting mission, including letting go of about 17% of its workforce last year, said 2024 was its first full year of profitability. It reported that quarterly revenue of 4.2 billion euros ($4.34 million), up 16%, “was ahead of plan,” thanks to favorable foreign exchange rates and subscriber revenue.
Those cost cuts helped cut Spotify’s expenses by 16% from last year to 891 million euros ($920.48 million), while revenue from premium subscribers rose 17% to 3.7 billion euros ($3.18 billion). Revenue from ad supported listeners rose 7% to 537 million euros ($596 million). Average revenue per user rose 5% year over year to 4.85 euros ($5.01).
Spotify’s gross margin–a key measure which strips the cost of sales out of the company’s revenue–came in above target at 32.2%, compared to 26.7% a year ago. Gross profit totaled 1.37 billion euros ($1.42 billion), and the operating income rose to 1.4 billion euros ($1.45 million).
The first quarter they expects first quarter revenue to hold flat at 4.2 billion euros ($4.34 million), as subscribers are expected to rise just 2 million in what is typically a slower-growth quarter for Spotify.
This story originally appeared on Billboard
