If Netflix is doing very badly, after a nightmarish quarterly, not the same can be said of Spotify which, in its latest rendezvous with investors, has proclaimed objectives of pure sector domination, by 2030.
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Spotify, the music streaming giant listed with satisfaction (higher than expected) on the stock exchange, held a meeting with investors, during which it showed a rosy scenario, with even more comforting prospects for its business.
The big news related to Spotify was the information that emerged at the last edition of the Investor Day of the Swedish platform, where CEO Daniel EK and CFO Paul Voge provided an overview of the progress, results, and objectives of the Swedish streaming platform. . The latter, in the last 5 years, has more than tripled its gross profit, accumulating over 1 billion in cash flow, which has made it possible to invest in other areas as well, such as podcasts (whose growth margins would be 30% higher. , with the company currently monetizing 14% of the hours listened to).
In the music business, subject to differentiation also via concerts and merchandising, the gross margin of the music business is expected to rise from 28.5 today, to 30 and then to 35%.
Good results also come from audiobooks, which could be reinterpreted in terms of format, and which already today have a 20% annual growth: in this context, the substantial investment in the acquisition of Findaway, the platform that (among other things) connects interpreters and authors of audio books, but there was also hint of the enormous opportunity (according to EK the sector could be worth 9 billion dollars against the 1.6 currently estimated by the Audio Publishers Association) represented by this segment, for the which Spotify wants to replicate the same success achieved in podcasts (perhaps with a hybrid model that offers some titles for free and others under subscription).
Meanwhile, the data for the overflow rate is already good, which, in relation to premium users, fell from 5.5% at the end of 2017 to 3.9% at the end of 2021. Spotify’s goals are even more ambitious for the future. According to Daniel EK, the aim of the growing initiatives month in the field is to become, by 2030, the platform of education, entertainment, and inspiration for over 1 billion users and, as a result, support tools will be provided for 50 millions of artists and creators, to “better manage their activities and projects, monetize their work and effectively promote it”.