After a long struggle, Spotify appears to be heading towards a profitable podcast business, according to The Verge.
While Spotify’s recently released Q4 results for 2023 show there was still a loss, the company’s CEO said they were close to breaking even, marking a major shift to the business.
“[This] gives me a lot of confidence that as we get into 2024, we will achieve the full-year profitability target on podcasting,” Daniel Ek told investors Tuesday.
The sector has been struggling to profit, leading Spotify to lay off staff, end Spotify Live, get rid of acclaimed podcasts, and diminish podcast exclusivity. The method saw its top creators, such as Joe Rogan, host their shows only on the Spotify platform.
While Ek noted some of these exclusivity deals worked, they weren’t necessarily in line with what creators wanted to do. “Exclusivity makes sense when you’re the smaller player trying to gain scale. When you’re the bigger player, the additional value of the exclusivity is far smaller than it is about being aligned,” he said.
Spotify appears to be taking a strategy from The Ringer, The Verge notes. The studio has been one of the strongest on Spotify, with its strategy to be in as many places as possible, earning ad money from various sources.
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