Spotify reports user and revenue growth amid ongoing antitrust battle with Apple

Spotify is doing great, if you were wondering. Although the company raised prices, didn’t release a Hi-Fi version of its catalog, and also suffered from backlash on podcast originals, it is reporting growth in revenue and users. This also comes while the Swedish company has an ongoing antitrust battle with Apple.

According to Reuters, Spotify’s quarterly revenue report beat analyst’s estimates with higher advertising income and more people subscribed to its premium version. Total monthly active users rose to a record 422 million in the first quarter, up by 19%.

The Swedish company posted a 24% increase in revenue to 2.66 billion euros ($2.82 billion) in the quarter. Analysts on average had expected revenue of 2.62 billion euros, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Spotify said the share of podcasts in content consumption on its platform grew by double digits and reached an all-time high in the reported quarter.

For its second quarter, on the other hand, the app expects a smaller increase in active user of 428 million due to the end of its Russian operations “and the reversal of a loss of users after a service outage in March.”

Last but not least, premium subscribers rose to 182 million from 158 million, while ad-supported revenue rose 31% to 282 million euros, says Reuters.

While Apple will report its quarter revenue tomorrow, it’s unlikely that the company will disclosure Apple Music numbers. In a report by the beginning of April, Apple showed that third-party apps often beat built-in services amid scrutiny.

One of the tidbits of this report show that Spotify has 1.6x higher usage than Apple Music in the United States and 2.3x on the United Kingdom. The company says these percentages are based on relative popularity of a local app compared to an Apple app in terms of daily active users or time spent in the app.

9to5Mac will cover Apple’s quarter revenue report as soon as it’s out.

Are you a Spotify or Apple Music user? Which one do you prefer? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.