Spotify’s User Base Soars Beyond Expectations, Signaling Strong Momentum with 700 million users

Spotify surprises with significantly more new users than expected, while premium subscription growth remains in line with expectations. The quarterly figures show mixed signals for the streaming giant.

Spotify is growing faster than expected

Spotify increased the number in the third quarter of 2025 of monthly active users increased eleven percent to 713 million, exceeding analyst expectations. Premium subscribers increased by twelve percent to 281 million and were therefore in line with forecasts.

Sales increased by seven percent to 4.27 billion euros; This corresponds to an increase of twelve percent over the year. The operating result grew by 43 percent to 582 million euros, the net profit reached 899 million euros – after a loss of 86 million euros in the previous year.

Weakness in the advertising business

While the premium business benefited, advertising revenue fell by six percent to 446 million euros. Despite this decline, gross margin improved by 56 basis points to 31.6 percent. In the third quarter of 2025, Spotify introduced a total of over 30 new functions or fundamental improvements, including an upgraded free version with free song selection.

It can be assumed that this selection option in the free subscription in particular brought the greatest increase. Integration with ChatGPT was also launched to personalize music and podcast recommendations via text input. On the other hand, prices rose and features (like audiobook hours) became worse, to the detriment of users.

Spotify business figures year-on-year

• +12% Number of subscribers The number of subscribers increased by 12% year-on-year to 281 million premium subscribers

• +11% Active Users Monthly active users grew 11% year-over-year to 713 million users worldwide

• +12% total sales Total sales increased currency-adjusted by 12% to 4.3 billion euros

• 31.6% gross margin The gross margin improved by 56 basis points to 31.6%, thus showing a significant increase in profitability

• 582 million euros operating result The operating result reached 582 million euros and underlines the successful business development

Nevertheless: mixed outlook

For the fourth quarter, Spotify expects sales of 4.5 billion euros, 745 million monthly active users and 289 million premium subscribers. While user numbers are above forecasts, premium growth remains slightly below expectations.