Spotify's financial results for the second quarter of 2018

Streaming giant Spotify just published its financial results for the second quarter of 2018. The company ended June with 180 million monthly active users, including 83 million subscribers: this means up 30.4% and 40.7% - respectively - year-on-year, and up 5.9% and 10.7% quarter-on-quarter.

Spotify generated revenues of €1.27bn (around $1.49bn) in Q2 this year, (up 26.4% year-on-year), but the company reported a net loss of €394m (around $461.4m) while last year, during the same quarter, it lost  €188m.

Spotify’s cost of revenues – including royalties – were €944m (around $1.1bn) in the second quarter this year, accounting for 74.2% of its turnover. That compares to just under 77% in Q2 2017, and 85.4% in Q2 2016.

Also, Spotify saw its free listeners grow by 23.2% year-on-year to 101 million. Moreover, premium subscribers grew 40.7% to 83 million: this means that Spotify’s conversion rate – the percentage of its listeners who are subscribers – stood at 45.1% in Q2 this year. That compares to 41.8% a year ago, and just under 34% a year before that.