Is Deezer in trouble? The DSP’s half-year financial results show a major decline everywhere but in its home territory of France. Here’s the latest.
The DSP has continued to grow subscribers in France, with 3.6 million subs representing 8.8% growth compared to H1 2022. But elsewhere in the world, it’s not a rosy picture at all for Deezer. The DSP went from having 2.3 million subscribers in H1 2022 to 2.0 million at the end of H1 2023—representing a 12.4% subscriber shed. That’s not too surprising, as Deezer previously affirmed it would be focusing its efforts on select markets rather than tackling behemoths like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music.
Deezer says the ‘Partnerships’ category revenue accounted for €62.4 ($68.2M) in H1 2023, for 8.5% growth compared to the previous year. Deezer says that growth reflects the gradual build-up of its RTL partnership before the launch of its Multimedia App planned in Q3 2023 and the Sonos partnership it launched in Q2 2023.
Deezer renewed partnership agreements with Orange in July and signed a new agreement with Latin America’s e-commerce platform Mercado Libre. Deezer says its ARPU rose by 14.9% mainly due to the improved geographical mix of its partnerships. Deezer says it expects revenue growth to accelerate in H2 2023 thanks to its partnerships and new sources of revenue.
“Our H1 results confirm that our strategy is bearing fruit, and that we are able to drive significant operational performance improvements,” adds CEO Jeronimo Folgueira. “We continue to grow and have cut our losses by almost half compared to last year.”
“Additionally, the recent signatures and launches of large, new partnerships will help us accelerate growth in the years to come. Our direct subscription and freemium businesses show stronger economics, and we continue to optimize our market position and strictly control our costs. All of this makes me very confident that we are on the right path to achieve our profitability and cash generation objectives.”
