According to PYMNTS.com, Spotify announced during its Q3 2025 earnings on November 4th that it has crossed a major threshold, reaching 713 million monthly active users—an 11% year-over-year increase. The platform now has 281 million paying subscribers, up 12%, while revenue jumped 7% to €4.3 billion (about $4.9 billion). Founder and CEO Daniel Ek emphasized the company is “shipping faster than ever” and pointed to strong user fundamentals. In a major leadership shift, Ek will transition to chairman on January 1st, 2026, with current co-presidents Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström becoming co-CEOs. The company also highlighted that ad-supported users grew to 446 million, and engagement is at all-time highs, even in mature markets like North America and Europe.
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The Bigger Bet: An Audio Operating System
Here’s the thing: the raw user growth is impressive, but it’s almost a side note to Spotify‘s real ambition. The company isn’t just trying to be the world’s biggest music streamer anymore. It’s explicitly trying to build what it calls the “operating system for global listening.” That’s a huge shift. Basically, they want to be the foundational layer—the iOS or Android—for all audio, whether it’s music, podcasts, audiobooks, or something powered by AI.
And you can see this strategy in their product blitz. They’re not just adding songs to a library. They launched audio mixing tools for playlists, deeper personalization surfaces, and, most notably, a direct integration with ChatGPT. That last one is a seriously clever move. It plants Spotify’s flag directly in the future of conversational AI and “agentic” search. Instead of you going to Spotify to type in a song, the AI assistant—wherever it lives—will just serve up Spotify content. That’s how you become an OS.
The Audiobook Gambit and The Profit Puzzle
So why this massive expansion beyond music? Look, the music streaming business has a fundamental problem: the royalties are brutal, sometimes eating up to 70% of revenue. Spotify’s executives have been vocal about needing to profitably expand beyond that. Audiobooks are their brightest hope right now. They’ve tripled their English-language catalog to over 500,000 titles, and more than half of eligible premium users have already played one. Listening hours are up big time.
This is a classic land-and-expand strategy. Get users hooked on the free, ad-supported music, convert them to premium, and then slowly introduce them to higher-margin services like audiobooks within the same app. It’s all about increasing the “share of ear”—and wallet—from each user. The focus on flexible payment options, which they test using “painted door” methods, shows they understand that reducing friction is key to making this whole ecosystem work.
What Comes Next for the Audio Giant?
With the leadership baton being passed to Norström and Söderström, the “OS for Audio” vision is clearly the company’s north star. The question is, can they execute? They have the user base, the engagement, and a clear multi-pronged strategy. But they’re also competing against tech titans like Apple, Amazon, and Google, all of whom have their own audio and AI ambitions.
The next few years will be about seeing if these new experiences—the AI integrations, the audiobooks, the creator tools—can truly change user behavior and, crucially, improve Spotify’s bottom line. Reaching 713 million users is an incredible milestone, but the real story is just beginning. They’ve built the audience; now they have to build the future they’re promising.
