International media services and digital music provider Spotify recently reveals its impressive subscribers' count. It also discloses its revenue for the last quarter of 2019. The company also announces that it is acquiring The Ringer.
Spotify Subscribers' Count And Revenue
The digital music streaming giant recently shared its fourth-quarter performance. It revealed that the company now has 271 million subscribers, which is a 31 percent increase from 2018. In terms of paying users, Spotify reported a rise of 29 percent or around 125 million subscribers. For its fourth-quarter revenue, the company disclosed that it hit $2 billion.
It was equivalent to an increase of 24 percent compared to its earnings a year ago. Spotify's subscribers' count is twice more than that of its rival, Apple Music, which has around 60 million subscribers. The reported figures look very impressive.
However, Reuters earlier reported that the premium tier subscribers of the digital music streaming service are either paying nothing or at a discounted rate. Spotify offers a wide range of promotions to entice customers to subscribe to its service. It includes the 3 months on us promo, as well as the win-back offer for customers who are returning to the service.
Interestingly, even if we remove those who are not paying at all or those who availed the promos, it seems that the Swedish company still has the upper hand over its rival.
Spotify Acquires The Ringer
The digital music streaming giant is also making a significant investment this year by acquiring Bill Simmons' The Ringer. The move could be interpreted as the company's way of getting ahead of the competition in the podcast industry. According to reports, Spotify agreed to purchase The Ringer, hire Ben Simmons and all of his 90 employees.
According to The Verge, Spotify's acquisition of The Ringer could help the company in the same way that The Daily helps the New York Times. At this point, we do not have the exact number of audiences that The Ringer has. However, several reports claim that the program got 100 million podcast downloads every month last year.
The Sweden-based company acquired Gimlet Media a year ago. It was also a massive acquisition, which includes a podcast creation app and a podcast network. Gimlet Media's podcast network includes shows like Anchor, Startup, and Reply All.
Later in 2019, Spotify bought Parcast, which focuses on horror and true crime. Based on the company's series of acquisitions, it now has a crime, true horror, and sports-related programs. Moreover, it has the celebrity-centered Spotify Originals.
