Spotify’s big bet on podcasts is starting to pay off

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Spotify’s podcast audience is experiencing huge growth, the company revealed in its earnings report today. The company reports that its podcast audience has grown by over 50 percent since the last quarter, and that it has almost doubled since the start of the year. The company also saw subscriber numbers grow overall, with its total number of premium subscribers growing by 9 percent to 108 million compared to the last quarter, and monthly active users growing to 232 million, an increase of 7 percent.

The growth in its podcasting business suggests that Spotify’s investment is starting to pay off. Earlier this year the company acquired the podcasting network Gimlet Media as well as Anchor, which produces tools to let creators build,...

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