Blog: earnings

Spotify’s Q1 2023 earnings revealed its growing userbase — now at 515 million monthly active users (MAUs) — and some key insights into its podcast vertical. First quarter revenue fell short of expectations, although podcast ad revenue, mostly driven by originals and exclusives, grew 20% year-over-year (YoY).

Two audio giants with investments in podcasting — Spotify and SiriusXM — published their second quarter earnings for the year. SiriusXM saw marginal year-over-year growth in revenue – around 4% – although it was still able to increase its paid subscribers by 23,000 users, bringing its total subscribers to 34 million.

Earlier this week, Roblox announced its fiscal year (FY) 2021 results. The market response was stark, wiping 20+% fromRoblox’s market cap. While the media is citing Roblox’s slowing growth (particularly in key markets such as the US), extended loss, and underperforming analyst expectations, Roblox encouraged investors to take a long-term view.

Roblox reported on its Q2 2021 results this week. Indeed, a continuation of the company’s growth story with bookings surpassing $665 million, up 35% year-on-year. On paper, the 127% YoY growth of revenue looks even more impressive.

US-based sports betting company DraftKings’ stock value has grown 11% following a strong third-quarter performance in which its revenues increased 98% year on year (YoY) to reach $132.8 million, up from $67 million in Q3 2019.

WWE’s Q3 2020 results provide a fascinating insight into how a live event-focused entertainment business has successfully navigated a global pandemic. In its financials for the quarter , WWE saw a 19% revenue increase year-on-year (YoY), with Q3 2020 revenue at $221.

H1 2020 has been particularly good for Netflix. Q1 2020 saw record subscriber growth of 27.8 million net additions and its original content has dominated viewer interest over the previous six months. The current top three most-viewed Wikipedia TV show pages are all Netflix originals, with D2C challenger Peacock’s Brave New World coming in at fourthplace (Source MIDiA Index ).

COVID-19 forced sports leagues to think outside the box for restarting live sports. The UFC wanted to rent a private island , the NRL to ferry players to and from games, and the WWE performed to empty arenas .

With the pandemic-enforced postponement of live sports creating an entertainment void for sports fans, US broadcaster ESPN played its trump card to capitalise on the thirst for stimulating content during lockdown.