Spotify’s First Quarter Under New Co-CEOs Highlights Growth Strain
Spotify’s latest earnings underscored a new challenge for the Swedish streaming giant: sustaining growth. While the company topped Wall Street expectations for the first quarter—the first fiscal period under new co-CEOs Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström—its sales outlook forecast fell short of analyst estimates, sending shares down roughly 12 percent today (April 28). As the new leadership charts Spotify’s next phase, they are leaning heavily into expanding the platform beyond music, betting that a broader content ecosystem can drive deeper engagement even as growth shows signs of strain.
That strategy was on display yesterday (April 27), when Spotify unveiled a new fitness hub offering free and premium users access to workout playlists, guided sessions and more than 1,400 Peloton classes. The move builds on an aggressive expansion into audiobooks, podcasts and now fitness, aimed at increasing user retention and time spent on the platform.
The fitness push reflects how users are already engaging with the platform. “Hundreds of millions of playlists are being created to do yoga, to go to the gym, and so on and so forth,” Nörstrom told analysts on an earnings call today. “This is us doubling down on that trend.”
Spotify users have organically created more than 150 million workout-centered playlists, and 70 percent of paying subscribers work out monthly, according to the company. The new hub builds on existing fitness content, including classes uploaded by independent instructors using Spotify’s ad-free video tools.
“If you think about it, this is really what we do: we use our platform to bridge the demand between creatives—like a fitness instructor—and users,” sNorström said, noting that he personally uses Spotify for podcasts, classes and audiobooks while playing tennis.
For the January-March quarter, Spotify reported revenue of $5.2 billion, up 8 percent year-over-year. Monthly active users rose 12 percent to 761 million, and premium subscribers increased 9 percent to 293 million. But despite those gains, the weaker-than-expected forecast overshadowed the results. In February, the company increased its monthly subscription price from $11.99 to $12.99 in the U.S.
Spotify under a dual-CEO structure
The dual-CEO structure splits responsibilities between strategy and product. Norström, a 15-year Spotify veteran, oversees business strategy, while Söderström, who has been with the company for 17 years, focuses on product development. Central to their approach is a multi-format content strategy supported by A.I.-driven features.
Several of those tools are gaining traction. Spotify DJ, which delivers personalized, voice-guided music recommendations, is approaching 100 million users. SongDNA, an A.I. feature that provides contextual information about tracks, has reached 52 million users within weeks of launch.
More recently, Spotify introduced a feature allowing users to view and modify their “Taste Profile,” an algorithmic snapshot of their preferences. The tool lets listeners actively steer recommendations by specifying what they do or don’t want to hear.
“These features point to something bigger: a transition from a world where Spotify recommends things to you, to a world where you can actively shape, guide and interact with our platform,” said Söderström. “This level of nuanced control empowers users like never before.”
That growing stream of user input is becoming a key asset. “Now people are telling us, in English, that they’re going for a run and they want this BPM and that cadence and so forth,” said Söderström. “We’re getting this treasure trove of data that we are capturing, training on—this builds a unique advantage for us.”