• by Alex Weprin , November 1, 2018

Spotify, the market-leader in streaming music content, now has more than 87 million paid subscribers, and 191 million total users, with 109 million ad-supported users.

The company revealed the numbers during its third-quarter earnings report.

The company’s premium subscription business was up 40% year over year, driven, in part, by family and student plans. Ad-supported revenue was up 30% year over year.

Rcompany emphasized that it sees advertising as a key revenue driver going forward.

‘Demand in the US remains strong and is expected to outstrip our available inventory in Q4,” the company said in its letter to shareholders, adding that 78% of U.S. sales were direct.

As the company shifts from direct to self-serve and programmatic “we also expect to achieve significant operating leverage in the ad sales business, increasing our operating margins.”

The company said its ad margins in its large, mature markets were strong, while its ad margins in smaller emerging markets remained weak.

Spotify told investors that it expects to end Q4 with between 93-96 million premium subscribers, and with 199-206 million total users.

On the company’s earnings call, executives touted its progress with podcasts, where it only holds single digit market share. Podcasts often have listeners tuning in for extended periods, rather than just for a couple of songs.

“Non-music content has an important place,” in Spotify’s future, CEO Daniel Ek said.