Spotify Makes Money on Brands: The Platform Bets on Cultural Collaborations
Spotify went from losses in 2022 to an operating profit of €2.2 billion in 2025. By 2030, the platform is targeting $100 billion in revenue and 1 billion users through sponsorships.
Spotify closed 2025 with an operating profit of €2.2 billion — versus losses just three years earlier, in 2022. The platform has turned things around and is now betting on advertising as a key driver of further growth. The centerpiece of the strategy is positioning the service as a cultural platform attractive for sponsorship collaborations with major brands.
Spotify's ambitions were laid out by co-chair of the board Alex Norström at an investor day in May. He outlined targets through 2030: revenue growth in the mid-teens annually, 1 billion monthly active users, and $100 billion in revenue.
Advertising plays a special role in this strategy. Head of advertising business Katie English, at the same investor day, emphasized the importance of so-called "high-impact sponsorships" — large, expensive partnerships under which brands gain access to the platform's audience through prominent integrations.
The logic is simple. The music service is no longer just a streaming player but is becoming a venue for cultural events — collaborations with fashion brands, artists, and media. An example of this model is Spotify's partnership with the Coach brand: a tour involving the platform demonstrates what a "cultural collaboration" looks like in practice. It is precisely these kinds of projects the platform intends to sell to brands as a premium advertising product.
The bet is understandable: sponsorship budgets of major brands remain an under-monetized segment for Spotify. Classic display advertising on the platform is growing, but large integrations bring in a higher price tag while also reinforcing the service's image as a player in the cultural industry rather than merely a technology distributor of music.
The numbers lend weight to the plans. The shift from losses in 2022 to €2.2 billion in operating profit in 2025 shows the management team has already proven its ability to change the economics of the business. Now it must replicate that success in the advertising segment, where competition for brand budgets plays out against Google, Meta, and Amazon.
The goal of 1 billion monthly users looks bold, but it is directly tied to advertising monetization: the wider the audience, the more attractive the platform becomes for sponsors of major cultural projects. Every new collaboration on the scale of the Coach tour simultaneously drives audience growth and demonstrates the value of "high-impact sponsorships" to advertisers.
For brands and agencies, the signal is clear: Spotify is building a new premium inventory in the audio space and will be actively selling it in the coming years. Market players should factor this channel into their campaign planning — a platform with a billion-user ambition and already confirmed profitability will become a notable contender for advertising budgets.
Source: Adweek
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