Spotify swings to loss as it adds 200,000 audiobooks to paid service

Spotify increased premium subscriber numbers by 4% quarter on quarter to 236 million in the final three months of the year. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

Spotify’s push beyond music has tipped the streaming service into the red again, after it acquired the rights to 200,000 audiobooks for premium subscribers, with Prince Harry’s autobiography and comedian David Mitchell’s Unruly proving to be among the most popular with listeners.

The world’s biggest music streaming service, which has been offering 15 hours of free audiobook listening a month to premium subscribers in the UK, Australia and the US since October, said related start-up costs contributed to a €75m (£64m) operating loss in the fourth quarter.