Spotify Hums Along in Q3, Reaching 306 Million Paid Subscribers: ‘There Is More Runway Ahead’
Spotify Hums Along in Q3, Reaching 306 Million Paid Subscribers: ‘There Is More Runway Ahead’
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Oct 22, 2026 3:15am PT
Spotify Hums Along in Q3, Reaching 306 Million Paid Subscribers: ‘There Is More Runway Ahead’
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Todd Spangler
NY Digital Editor
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Spotify hit the mark on all its key targets in the third quarter of 2026, as the streaming-audio giant packed on 6 million subscribers in the period — to reach 306 million — and saw healthier growth in ad revenue.
On the free, ad-supported side, Spotify added a net 11 million monthly active users to stand at 788 million as of the end of September.
For Q3, the company reported overall revenue of €4.97 billion, up 16%, “reflecting relatively consistent premium growth and improved ad-supported performance,” it said in announcing the results. Ad-supported revenue grew 10% to €482 million; Spotify said automated sales channels continued to scale and “remained the largest contributors to overall advertising growth.”
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“This was a quarter where we did what we said. We’ve built a strong business that keeps compounding, we invest when we see a path for growth, our costs are moderating, and there is more runway ahead,” Spotify co-CEO Alex Norström said in prepared remarks. “Every time we expand what’s on Spotify, we bring in new listeners and give existing ones more reasons to come back, almost every day.”
In Q4, the company is forecasting Premium subscribers to reach 316 million (up 10 million) and total monthly active users of 818 million (up 30 million). Spotify expects revenue in the year-end 2026 quarter of €5.2 billion, operating income of €820 million and gross margin of 33.8%.
In September, Spotify launched an integration with Meta’s Muse conversational AI agent. By connecting Muse to Spotify, listeners can ask their agent to play music, save songs to their library, build personalized playlists, find new books, podcasts and more. “Spotify is in one of the few categories that actually stands to thrive in the agentic age,” said co-CEO Gustav Söderström. “People love getting rid of chores. But entertainment is the opposite. Nobody asks an agent to ‘summarize a song’ for them. The whole point of getting rid of those chores is to free up even more time for the things that you actually enjoy.”
Gross margin of 33.0% in the third quarter slightly exceeded guidance (32.9%) while operating income of €672 million was better than expected “due to lower-than-forecast marketing and personnel-related costs,” the company said. Free cash flow totaled €735 million in Q3, down from €806 million in the year-earlier period; Spotify attributed the decline to “unfavorable movements in net working capital.”
Meanwhile, this week, Spotify launched its Creator Memberships program in 34 markets, which lets podcasters set up subscription tiers offering any combination of exclusive audio or video, bonus episodes, fewer ads, early access or access to a show’s archive. The company also expanded the Spotify Partner Program to more than 35 new markets in October, enabling eligible creators in countries including Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Poland and Colombia to earn revenue based on engagement.
The company also announced that it is taking its audiobooks offering global: That will increase from 22 markets to more than 180 by year-end 2026, providing access to more than 350,000 titles spanning over 120 languages.
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