Spotify reached 306 million Premium subscribers in the third quarter

Spotify ended September with 306 million Premium subscribers, up 9% from a year earlier, the company said on October 22, 2026. It added 6 million Premium subscribers in the third quarter, 1 million more than its own guidance. Monthly active users, which include free listeners, rose 11% to 788 million.

Revenue grew 16% to €4,969 million, or 14% excluding currency moves. Operating income rose 15% to €672 million, slightly above the €670 million Spotify had forecast.

The quarter in figures

Where the money comes from

Subscriptions still carry the business. Premium revenue grew 17% to €4,487 million, about 90% of the total. Average revenue per Premium user was €4.95, up 9.3%, or 7.5% excluding currency. Spotify said that, setting currency aside, the increase came from “price increase benefits, partially offset by product/market mix.”

The free tier has more users but earns far less. Ad-supported listeners made up 499 million of the 788 million monthly users, or about 63%, yet ad-supported revenue of €482 million was under a tenth of the total. It grew 10%. Spotify said music advertising was driven by growth in impressions sold, “partially offset by softness in pricing,” and that automated sales channels were the largest contributors to ad growth.

One caution for comparisons: from January 1, 2026, Spotify moved some revenue-generating activities from its Ad-Supported segment into Premium. Earlier quarters have been restated to match, so the figures above compare like with like, but they will not match the numbers Spotify published at the time.

Margins, costs and cash

Gross margin was 33.0%, a third-quarter record and 136 basis points higher than a year earlier. Operating expenses rose about 26%. Excluding currency moves and payroll-tax charges linked to share awards, the rise was 19%, driven mainly by marketing and by cloud and AI spending, Spotify said. Net income fell to €518 million from €899 million, as finance income dropped and the company booked a €187 million tax expense against a €72 million tax benefit a year earlier. Free cash flow was €735 million, down 9%.

This was a quarter where we did what we said.

Products and what comes next

Spotify said audiobooks will expand from 22 markets to more than 180 by the end of 2026, with more than 350,000 titles. It also launched Creator Memberships for podcasters in 34 markets, extended its Partner Program to more than 35 new markets and introduced Taste Profile, an editable view of a listener's recommendations, for Premium subscribers in the U.S.

For the fourth quarter, Spotify guided to 818 million monthly users, which implies about 30 million net additions, and 316 million subscribers, about 10 million more. It expects revenue of €5.2 billion, a gross margin of 33.8% and operating income of €820 million.

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