Spotify forecast fourth-quarter revenue of 2.54-2.68 billion euros with 177-181 million premium subscribers. 'While we have been relentless in our pursuit of being the world's largest audio platform, it's still early days and we are just getting started,' Ek said. Spotify ventured into podcasts in 2018 with a series of acquisitions and currently has 3.2 million podcasts on its platform, up from 2.9 million in the last quarter. The company does not break out the share of advertising generated by podcasts but Ek said growth was in triple digits over the same period last year, becoming a significant contributor to overall advertising growth. 'We are seeing lots of demand on the podcasting side, which is bringing more advertisers in,' Chief Executive Daniel Ek said in an interview. The company has also been investing heavily in its podcast business to rival that of Apple (AAPL.O) and later launched a paid subscription platform for podcasters in the United States and opened it up for advertising.

Revenue from ads, which fell at the height of the pandemic, jumped 75% to 323 million euros ($376 million), and the company is planning to hire hundreds of staff to further boost advertising sales. Spotify earns from subscriptions and by presenting adverts to non-paying members. Total monthly active users rose 19% to 381 million.

Premium subscribers, which account for most of the company's revenue, hit 172 million, just beating analysts' expectations of 171.7 million.

STOCKHOLM, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue as more paid subscribers signed up for its premium service and advertisers lined up to air ads in between music and podcasts.

Spotify plans podcast subscriptions