Spotify quarterly revenue beats on subscriber growth

Total monthly active users rose 27% to 345 million

Spotify Technology SA beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue on Wednesday, as the music streaming company hit 155 million paid subscribers for its premium service.

Premium subscribers, who account for most of its revenue, were up 24% from a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting the company to have 153.26 million paid subscribers, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Spotify said the pandemic had had little impact on its subscriber growth, though it may have contributed positively to pulling forward new signups.

Revenue rose 17% to 2.17 billion euros ($2.61 billion) for the three-months ended December 31, from 1.86 billion euros a year earlier. Analysts were expecting revenue of 2.15 billion euros, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.