Lawo announces passing of founder Peter Lawo
The committed engineer and entrepreneur founded today's Lawo AG in 1970
Spotify Technology S.A. released its shareholders report for the fourth quarter of 2020.
Overall, the company noted a strong Q4 performance. Total monthly active users grew 27% Y/Y to 345 million in the quarter, with double digit Y/Y growth across all regions. For the full year, net additions accelerated to a record 74 million compared to 2019 net additions of 64 million. In Q4, it added 25 million MAUs and benefited from faster growth in India, the U.S. and Western Europe.
Spotify states that based on the behavior of users upon joining, it is confident that podcast usage has been a factor in the accelerated net additions.
In December, the company held its 6th annual year-end Spotify “Wrapped” campaign. This year focused on engaging new audiences by demonstrating the power of listening to connect, celebrating and supporting creator communities. In total, more than 90 million users engaged with Wrapped content this year (vs. more than 60 million last year).
The report shows global consumption hours were up meaningfully in Q4 on a Y/Y basis. Per user consumption in large regions such as Europe and North America returned to growth, while Latin America and Rest of World showed signs of improvement but remained slightly below pre-COVID levels.
Premium Subscribers grew 24% Y/Y to 155 million in the quarter. For the full year, net additions accelerated to a record 30 million compared to 2019 net additions of 28 million.
In Q4, Spotify added 10 million subscribers, with all regions contributing to growth, led by Europe and North America. Europe continued to benefit from the July launch in Russia and 12 surrounding markets. Relative to its forecast, Latin America and Europe performed particularly well from a regional perspective, while Family Plan and Duo additions were strong from a product perspective.
Of note this quarter was the launch of Spotify Premium Mini in India and Indonesia. Premium Mini gives users daily and weekly access to a subset of their favorite Premium features for a lower price.
In Q4, Spotify also announced partnership deals with Grab (Southeast Asia), Flipkart (India), Tink (Germany), and Euronics (Europe). Spotify is now officially available in South Korea, the world’s 6th largest music market.
Read the full report here.
