Spotify Technology S.A. (SPOT) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

(Operator Instructions) At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Bryan Goldberg, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

(接線員指示) 此刻，我想把電話會議交給投資人關係主管 Bryan Goldberg。請開始。

Thanks, operator, and welcome to Spotify's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Joining us today will be our co-CEOs, Alex Norstrom and Gustav Soderstrom; and our CFO, Christian Luiga. We'll start with opening comments from the team and, afterwards, we'll be happy to answer your questions. We will be taking questions today via Slido. Questions can be submitted by going to slido.com, and using the code number SpotifyEarningsQ126.

謝謝，接線員，歡迎各位參加 Spotify 2026 年第一季財報電話會議。今天與會的有我們的共同執行長 Alex Norstrom 與 Gustav Soderstrom，以及我們的財務長 Christian Luiga。我們將先由團隊發表開場談話，之後很樂意回答各位的問題。今天我們將透過 Slido 接受提問。問題可至 slido.com 提交，並使用代碼 SpotifyEarningsQ126。

(Operator Instructions)

(接線員指示)

Before we begin, let me quickly cover the safe harbor. During this call, we'll be making certain forward-looking statements, including projections or estimates about the future performance of the company. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed on today's call in our shareholder deck and in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

在開始之前，我先快速說明安全港聲明。在本次電話會議中，我們將作出若干前瞻性陳述，包括對公司未來表現的預測或估計。這些陳述係基於目前的預期與假設，並可能受到風險與不確定性的影響。實際結果可能因今日電話會議中、我們的股東簡報以及向美國證券交易委員會提交之文件所討論的因素，而出現重大差異。

During this call, we'll also refer to certain non-IFRS financial measures. Reconciliations between our IFRS and non-IFRS financial measures can be found in our shareholder deck, in the financial section of our Investor Relations website and also furnished today on Form 6-K. And with that, I'll turn it over to Alex.

在本次電話會議中，我們也會提及若干非 IFRS 財務衡量指標。我們的 IFRS 與非 IFRS 財務衡量指標之間的調節表，可在股東簡報、投資人關係網站的財務專區，以及今日提交的 Form 6-K 中查閱。接下來，我把時間交給 Alex。

Thank you, Bryan. Hey, everyone, and thank you for joining us. 2026 is off to a strong start, with performance reflecting solid execution, healthy growth and the kind of engagement trends that give Gustav, myself and the team confidence in building Spotify for the future.

謝謝你，Bryan。各位好，感謝大家加入我們。2026 年開局強勁，表現反映了穩健的執行力、健康的成長，以及讓 Gustav、我本人與團隊對打造 Spotify 的未來充滿信心的互動趨勢。

In Q1, we saw results that were in line or better across the board. We surpassed 760 million MAU, delivered on the subscriber growth we aimed to achieve, and we saw healthy engagement from existing users, reactivations and new users alike.

第一季，我們各項結果不是符合預期，就是優於預期。我們的 MAU 超過 7.6 億，達成我們希望實現的訂閱用戶成長，同時也看到既有用戶、回流用戶與新用戶都展現健康的互動。

Since the global rollout of our more personalized free experience, users in key markets like the U.S. are now listening and watching more days per month. Now for a business as established as ours, did I mention, by the way, that we're celebrating 20 years this month, this is an exciting development. And I'll share more about why in just a moment.

自我們更個人化的免費體驗在全球推出以來，美國等主要市場的用戶現在每月收聽與觀看的天數都增加了。對於像我們這樣已相當成熟的業務而言——順帶一提，我們本月正在慶祝 20 週年——這是一項令人振奮的進展。我稍後會分享更多原因。

And we also netted our second highest gross margin ever. All that reinforces this confidence in sustained user and subscriber growth, low churn and then also continued progress on revenue and margin.

此外，我們也創下史上第二高的毛利率。這些都進一步強化我們對用戶與訂閱用戶持續成長、低流失率，以及營收與毛利率持續改善的信心。

Now for over two decades, we have worked hard to forge strong relationships with our industry partners and the artists and the creators that we support. You've watched these relationship evolved in the last 20 years. but we have never been in a better position to innovate and to grow, thanks to the progress we're making together. So the trust that we have built is rooted in our collective desire to deliver results and expand the overall opportunity.

二十多年來，我們一直努力與產業夥伴，以及我們所支持的藝人與創作者建立穩固的關係。過去 20 年你們也見證了這些關係的演進，但由於我們共同取得的進展，我們從未像現在這樣處於更佳的位置來創新與成長。因此，我們建立的信任，根植於我們共同希望交付成果並擴大整體機會的願望。

We will have some new things to share on that front soon. We just released our annual report on the health and growth of the industry. It's worth noting that Spotify remains the only platform offering this level of visibility into how the music industry actually works.

在這方面，我們很快會分享一些新消息。我們剛發布年度產業健康與成長報告。值得注意的是，Spotify 仍是唯一提供如此程度透明度、讓外界得以了解音樂產業實際運作方式的平台。

Loud and clear show that in 2025, we paid out a record $11 billion plus to rights holders while continuing to outpace the growth of others. And year-over-year, we expect that outperformance to continue.

報告清楚顯示，2025 年我們向權利人支付了創紀錄的 110 億美元以上，同時仍持續跑贏其他同業的成長。而以年增率來看，我們預期這種領先表現將會延續。

Now on top of the streaming success, there's no doubt that artists, songwriters, musicians and fans are just always seeking stronger connections. Song DNA and About the Song were introduced this quarter to pull back the curtain on the remarkable talent behind our favorite tracks and offer more insights into a song. But we didn't stop there. Live experiences are one of the most impactful ways for artists and fans to Connect.

除了串流的成功之外，毫無疑問，藝人、詞曲作者、音樂人與粉絲始終在尋求更強的連結。本季我們推出 Song DNA 與 About the Song，揭開我們喜愛曲目背後非凡才華的面紗，並提供更多關於歌曲的洞察。但我們不止於此。現場體驗是讓藝人與粉絲建立連結最具影響力的方式之一。

So this winter, we took Spotify's most streamed global artist, Bad Bunny, to Tokyo to perform in Asia for the first time in front of some of his biggest super fans. And then we turned around and broadcast that iconic moment to the world. This went beyond the concept. It was a real opportunity to amplify culture.

因此在這個冬天，我們把 Spotify 全球串流量最高的藝人 Bad Bunny 帶到東京，讓他首次在亞洲演出，面對他最狂熱的一群超級粉絲。接著我們又把那個經典時刻向全世界播送。這不只是概念。這是一個真正放大文化影響力的機會。

Now all of this drives retention. So let me take a minute to just explain how we think about retention. Importantly, it acts as a proxy for how users value their time on Spotify. And we look at many metrics, but the three that drive retention are more days in a month, more [devices for context] and more content types or verticals. I've already told you we've been growing today's users' spend with us each month.

而這一切都能提升留存。所以我花一點時間說明我們如何看待留存。重要的是，它可作為用戶如何看重在 Spotify 上花費時間的替代指標。我們會看很多指標，但驅動留存的三個因素是：每月更多天使用、更多[裝置（供情境參考）]，以及更多內容類型或垂直領域。我先前已提到，我們一直在提升現有用戶每月在我們平台上的投入。

Engagement really is the lifeblood of Spotify. And I've been super excited to see this expand over the years and now too. Engaging with us then on more devices and also across our three content types just compounds this. This is how we grow the lifetime value of users. Users who engage in this way, they stay longer or perhaps never leave. These three levers are rooted in our personalization efforts and act to reinforce one another.

互動確實是 Spotify 的命脈。多年來看到互動持續擴大，現在也是，讓我非常振奮。在更多裝置上、並且跨我們三種內容類型與我們互動，會讓這種效果加乘。這就是我們提升用戶終身價值的方式。以這種方式互動的用戶，會停留更久，甚至可能永遠不離開。這三個槓桿都根植於我們的個人化努力，並彼此相互強化。

And AI just takes this to a whole new level. Essentially, we are unlocking your Spotify, your way for 0.75 billion users around the world. Yesterday's announcement around fitness is a natural extension of this strategy.

而 AI 讓這一切提升到全新層次。本質上，我們正在為全球 7.5 億用戶解鎖「你的 Spotify、你的方式」。昨天關於健身的公告，正是這項策略的自然延伸。

Spotify is already a trusted resource for wellness and fitness. Nearly 70% of premium users work out monthly and our users have created more than 150 million workout standard playlists, with many also turning to prompted playlists for support.

Spotify 早已是健康與健身領域值得信賴的資源。近 70% 的 Premium 用戶每月會運動，而我們的用戶已建立超過 1.5 億個運動標準播放清單，許多人也會使用提示式播放清單來獲得支持。

So to meet this need more directly, we are launching a fitness hub on Spotify. And as we just announced, this hub features Peloton's premium subscriber content in an ad-free experience. And of course, this content will be a very strong complement to what has already been working, including content like Yoga with Cassandra, [Jordan Jo] and [Chloe Ting].

因此，為了更直接滿足這項需求，我們將在 Spotify 上推出健身中心（fitness hub）。正如我們剛宣布的，該中心將以無廣告體驗提供 Peloton 的 Premium 訂閱內容。當然，這些內容也將與既有成效良好的內容形成強力互補，包括 Yoga with Cassandra、[Jordan Jo] 以及[Chloe Ting] 等內容。

I know we continue to talk about our ads business as a work in progress, but the key point is that 1.5 years of rebuilding, the foundation is now in place. Brands have always valued Spotify for its high user engagement, its beloved brand and its high-quality content. But the market shifted with advertisers now favoring biddable buying. We had to evolve to capture that TAM. So we've rebuilt our stack end to end.

我知道我們仍持續把廣告業務形容為進行中的工作，但關鍵在於：經過一年半的重建，基礎如今已就位。品牌一直重視 Spotify 的高用戶互動、深受喜愛的品牌，以及高品質內容。但市場已轉變，廣告主如今更偏好可競價的購買方式（biddable buying）。我們必須演進，才能掌握那個 TAM。因此我們已端到端重建我們的技術堆疊。

Now while this creates some short-term pressure, it unlocks a much larger opportunity. And we are making solid progress. Today, Biddable represents more than one-third of ad revenue, and it's growing quickly. So with Biddable expanding and also our active advertisers growing, coupled with improvements in our measurement and performance, we can now innovate in the way in new ways the old stack never allowed. This finally lets us better capture the value of our audience.

雖然這在短期內帶來一些壓力，但它解鎖了更大的機會。而我們正取得扎實進展。目前，競價（Biddable）已占廣告營收的三分之一以上，且成長迅速。因此，隨著競價擴大、活躍廣告主增加，再加上我們在衡量與成效上的改善，我們現在能以全新方式創新，這是舊技術堆疊過去從未允許的。這終於讓我們能更好地捕捉我們受眾的價值。

This is exactly how we wanted to start the year of raising ambition. We're now growing at scale, generating significant cash and reinvesting to capture the opportunities that matter the most. What you're now seeing is the beginning of a much larger next chapter, and we're excited to go deeper on that at our upcoming Investor Day with you all.

這正是我們希望以此開啟「提高企圖心」之年的方式。我們現在正以規模化成長，產生可觀的現金流，並再投資以把握最重要的機會。你們現在看到的是更宏大下一篇章的開端，我們也很期待在即將到來的投資人日與各位更深入分享。

With that, I'll hand over to Gustav.

接下來我把時間交給 Gustav。

Thanks, Alex. Now I'll pick up a little bit on what comes next, because that's where much of our focus is right now. So if you zoom out, the way we think about Spotify is pretty straightforward. With AI expanding our opportunities, we're building a system that understands our deeply engaged, passionate 0.75 billion users, one that adapts to them and improves the more they use it.

謝謝你，Alex。接下來我會再多談一點下一步會是什麼，因為這正是我們目前大部分的重點所在。如果你把視角拉遠，我們看待 Spotify 的方式其實相當直接。隨著 AI 擴大我們的機會，我們正在打造一個系統，能理解我們高度投入、充滿熱情的 7.5 億使用者；而且使用者用得越多，系統就越能適應並持續改進。

It's also increasingly a platform that puts control directly in users' hands, with their ideas, logic and creativity, a platform that's deeply personal, increasingly interactive and evolving from a solo experience into something inherently multiplayer.

它也愈來愈像是一個把控制權直接交到使用者手中的平台，讓使用者帶著自己的想法、邏輯與創意；這是一個高度個人化、互動性日益提升的平台，並正從單人體驗演進為本質上更偏多人互動的體驗。

As I shared last quarter, and more recently at South by Southwest, AI isn't new for us. Machine learning and personalization have long been core to Spotify, from discovery to recommendations. What's changing is what the technology is now allowing us to better understand, develop and deliver: creating differentiation and unlocking a very different experience and a new level of personalization.

如同我在上季分享的，以及最近在 South by Southwest 提到的，AI 對我們而言並不新。機器學習與個人化長期以來一直是 Spotify 的核心，從探索到推薦皆是如此。改變之處在於，現在的技術讓我們能更好地理解、開發並交付：創造差異化，並解鎖截然不同的體驗與更高層次的個人化。

From our earliest days, Spotify has been a technology company, and we've always seen ourselves as the R&D department for the music industry. And that mindset has helped us embrace new technologies to accelerate product development and create unique value.

從最早期開始，Spotify 就是一家科技公司，而我們一直把自己視為音樂產業的研發部門。這樣的思維也幫助我們擁抱新技術，加速產品開發並創造獨特價值。

Combined with our ads plus subscription model, deep expertise in personalization and scale operations, we think this positions us very strongly for the AI era. We're integrating AI across every part of Spotify, accelerating how we build and deliver at a pace we haven't seen before. We're shipping more, faster and with greater efficiency, lowering the cost per feature while increasing the impact.

結合我們的「廣告 + 訂閱」模式、在個人化方面的深厚專業，以及規模化營運能力，我們認為這讓我們在 AI 時代具備非常強的定位。我們正把 AI 整合到 Spotify 的每一個環節，以前所未見的速度加速我們的建置與交付。我們推出更多功能、更快且更有效率，在提升影響力的同時，降低每項功能的成本。

You can see some of the inference costs behind that acceleration in our OpEx. But we have tremendous confidence in what we're building, and I will share more about that soon. IDJ is now used by 94 million subscribers, closing in on 100 million, driving billions of hours of engagement. In this quarter, we've continued to push the boundaries of the user experience with new AI-powered features.

你可以在我們的營運費用（OpEx）中看到支撐這種加速的一些推論成本。但我們對正在打造的內容充滿信心，我也會很快分享更多細節。IDJ 目前已有 9,400 萬名訂閱用戶使用，正逼近 1 億，帶動數十億小時的互動時數。在本季，我們持續透過新的 AI 驅動功能推進使用者體驗的邊界。

As always, early adoption and deep usage is coming from our power users. But what's changed is how quickly we can learn from that behavior, refine the experience and scale it to a broader audience, delivering improvements faster and at a fraction of the historical cost. And all of this benefits LTV.

一如既往，最早採用與深度使用主要來自我們的重度使用者。但改變的是，我們能以多快的速度從這些行為中學習、精煉體驗並擴展到更廣泛的受眾，以更快速度、且僅用過往成本的一小部分交付改進。而這一切都會讓 LTV 受益。

We're particularly excited about [Taste Profile] now in beta. It gives users a clear view of how Spotify models they are listening across music, podcasts and audiobooks, and puts them in the driver's seat, allowing them to directly edit and refine their profile.

我們對目前處於 Beta 版的 [Taste Profile] 特別感到興奮。它讓使用者清楚看到 Spotify 如何在音樂、Podcast 與有聲書之間建模其收聽行為，並讓使用者坐上駕駛座，能直接編輯與精修自己的個人檔案。

So imagine telling Spotify to include more songs by those two artists my kids are obsessed with, or maybe the opposite, actually exclude those two artists, or add a classical tab to my home page. This level of nuanced control empowers users like never before.

想像一下，你可以告訴 Spotify 多放一些我孩子迷上的那兩位藝人的歌曲，或也許相反，乾脆把那兩位藝人排除掉，或是在我的首頁新增一個古典音樂分頁。這種細緻入微的控制程度，前所未有地賦能使用者。

We've also significantly expanded prompted playlist, enabling users to act as their own algorithmic curators. You can write prompts to generate playlist-specific moods activities or cultural trends across music, but now also podcasts.

我們也大幅擴展了「提示式播放清單」（prompted playlist），讓使用者能成為自己的演算法策展人。你可以撰寫提示詞，生成針對播放清單的情緒、活動或音樂中的文化趨勢，但現在也包含 Podcast。

So together, these features point to something bigger, a transition from a world where Spotify recommends things to you, to a world where you can actively shape, guide and interact with our platform, from passive to interactive, from static to adaptive, and from single player to multiplayer.

因此，綜合來看，這些功能指向更大的轉變：從 Spotify 推薦內容給你的世界，走向你能主動塑造、引導並與我們的平台互動的世界；從被動到互動、從靜態到自適應、從單人到多人。

And we think that's really important, not just for Spotify, but for how people experience media. We're already seeing this more interactive, multiplayer Spotify take off with features like Jam, where usage has doubled year-over-year and now exceeds 100 million monthly listening hours. And there is also Blend, Messaging, Mixing and, of course, Wrapped Party.

我們認為這非常重要，不僅對 Spotify 如此，對人們體驗媒體的方式也是如此。我們已經看到這種更互動、多人化的 Spotify 正快速起飛，例如 Jam 功能，其使用量年增一倍，目前每月收聽時數已超過 1 億小時。此外還有 Blend、Messaging、Mixing，當然也包括 Wrapped Party。

So we're just getting started here. We're well positioned because of our large engaged user base, our deep create relationships and years of investment in personalization and infrastructure scale to arrive at this agentic moment.

所以我們才剛剛開始。憑藉我們龐大且高度投入的使用者基礎、深厚的創作者關係，以及多年在個人化與基礎設施規模化上的投資，我們已為這個「代理式（agentic）」時刻做好了充分準備。

Together, these create a platform that can take advantage of this moment and unlock entirely new growth vectors that will enable us to climb to new mountains previously unimaginable.

這些要素共同打造出一個能把握此刻的平台，並解鎖全新的成長向量，讓我們攀上過去難以想像的新高峰。

This connects to the broad opportunity ahead. We see significant room to grow across users, formats and engagement, and to really expand what Spotify is and come to come over time. We're at a pivotal moment building towards something even bigger. And on May 21, we'll show you why we're so excited about what comes next. So we'll hope that you'll join us there at our Investor Day.

這也連結到前方更廣泛的機會。我們看到在使用者、內容形式與互動上仍有很大的成長空間，也能真正擴展 Spotify 是什麼、以及隨時間推移將成為什麼。我們正處於關鍵時刻，朝著更宏大的目標建構。在 5 月 21 日，我們將向各位展示為何我們對接下來的發展如此興奮。因此也希望各位能在投資人日與我們相聚。

Now I'll turn it over to Christian to take you through the numbers.

現在我把時間交給 Christian，帶各位看一下數字。

Thank you, Gustav, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. Let me cover the quarter one results and then I will provide some perspective on our outlook. Unless otherwise noted, all referenced growth metrics are presented on a year-on-year constant currency basis.

謝謝你，Gustav，也謝謝各位今天加入我們。我先說明第一季的結果，接著我會就我們的展望提供一些觀點。除非另有說明，所有提及的成長指標皆以年對年、固定匯率基礎呈現。

Additionally, this quarter, we have implemented a minor reclassification of non-advertising activities from our Ad Supported segment to Premium. This is to better reflect the performance of our core advertising business.

另外，本季我們將部分非廣告活動從「廣告支援」分部做了小幅重分類至 Premium。這是為了更貼切反映我們核心廣告業務的表現。

Just for reference, in quarter one last year, we [shifted] EUR12 million in revenue, EUR7 million in gross profit from our Ad-Supported segment to Premium. Any comments on the segment growth rates are on a like-for-like basis.

供各位參考，在去年第一季，我們將 1,200 萬歐元的營收、700 萬歐元的毛利，從「廣告支援」分部[移轉]至 Premium。任何關於分部成長率的評論，皆以可比（like-for-like）基礎計算。

So overall, we were very pleased with how the business performed in the quarter. MAU grew by 10 million to 761 million in total, surpassing our guidance by 2 million. Our growth rate accelerated 12% year-over-year, up from 11% in quarter four.

整體而言，我們對本季業務表現感到非常滿意。MAU 增加 1,000 萬至總計 7.61 億，較我們的指引高出 200 萬。我們的成長率年增加速至 12%，高於第四季的 11%。

Outperformance was led by rest of the world and North America where we continued to benefit from our enhanced free tier rollout. We added 3 million net subscribers during the quarter, finishing at 293 million, in line with our guidance. We saw no surprises with respect to price increase related churn following our January U.S. price increase.

優於預期主要由世界其他地區與北美帶動，我們持續受惠於強化版免費層級的推出。本季淨新增訂閱用戶 300 萬，期末達到 2.93 億，符合我們的指引。針對 1 月美國調價後的價格上調相關流失（churn），我們沒有看到任何意外。

Total revenue was EUR4.5 billion, growing 14% year-over-year, which was an acceleration from 13% we delivered in quarter four. Premium revenue rose approximately 15% year-over-year versus 14% last quarter. This was driven by subscriber growth and ARPU expansion of 5.7% year over year.

總營收為 45 億歐元，年增 14%，較第四季的 13% 進一步加速。Premium 營收約年增 15%，高於上季的 14%。這主要由訂閱用戶成長以及 ARPU 年增 5.7% 所驅動。

Our Ad-Supported revenue grew approximately 3% year-over-year. Our new automated sales channel continued to grow fast and now represents over 30% of our Ad-Supported revenue in quarter one.

我們的「廣告支援」營收約年增 3%。我們新的自動化銷售通路持續快速成長，目前在第一季已占「廣告支援」營收的 30% 以上。

We also saw some continued choppiness in our legacy direct sales channel. While this dynamic will likely continue in the near term, we still expect improved growth in the second half of 2026 as our billable channels continue to scale.

我們也看到傳統直銷通路仍有一些持續的波動。雖然這種態勢短期內可能仍會延續，但隨著我們可計費通路持續擴大規模，我們仍預期在 2026 年下半年成長將有所改善。

Gross margin came in at 33%, surpassing guidance by approximately 20 basis points, which year-over-year -- with a year-over-year expansion of approximately 133 basis points. Favorability versus guidance was driven by better other cost of revenue and revenue mix.

毛利率為33%，較指引高出約20個基點，且年對年擴張約133個基點。相較指引的優於預期主要由於其他營收成本表現較佳以及營收組合改善所帶動。

Other operating income. The operating income of EUR715 million was EUR55 million above our guidance of EUR660 million, delivering an operating margin of 15.8%. Our outperformance was driven primarily by social charges, which had a positive impact approximately of EUR49 million relative to our forecast due to share price movements in the quarter.

其他營業收入。營業利益為7.15億歐元，較我們6.60億歐元的指引高出5,500萬歐元，營業利益率為15.8%。我們的優於預期主要來自社會費用（social charges），由於本季股價變動，相較我們的預測帶來約4,900萬歐元的正面影響。

Excluding the non forecasted associated charge favorability, we came in approximately EUR6 million above guidance, driven by the gross margin outperformance.

若排除上述未納入預測的相關費用有利因素，我們仍較指引高出約600萬歐元，主要由毛利率優於預期所驅動。

Finally, free cash flow was EUR824 million in the quarter. Performance here was a bit stronger than our typical quarter 1 due to some timing factors, which will likely reverse in quarter two.

最後，本季自由現金流為8.24億歐元。由於一些時點因素，本季表現比我們典型的第一季略強，這些因素很可能在第二季反轉。

On capital allocation, we repurchased $361 million in shares during quarter one, continuing our focus on opportunistically offsetting dilution from employee equity programs. We also settled our $1.5 billion in exchangeable note, and that was due in March, with cash on hand, rather than issuing new shares.

在資本配置方面，我們於第一季回購了3.61億美元的股票，持續專注於把握時機抵銷員工股權計畫造成的稀釋。我們也以手上現金清償了15億美元的可交換票據（exchangeable note）（該票據於3月到期），而非發行新股。

As of the close of the quarter, we had EUR8.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents and no debt other than lease liabilities. So then if we look ahead into quarter two, we see continued momentum and healthy global funnel that is -- and are forecasting MAU of 778 million, an increase of 17 million from quarter one.

截至本季末，我們持有88億歐元的現金及約當現金，除租賃負債外無其他負債。展望第二季，我們看到動能延續且全球漏斗（funnel）健康，並預測MAU為7.78億，較第一季增加1,700萬。

On subscribers, we are forecasting 299 million for quarter two or a net addition of 6 million. This is modestly below the significant outperformance we saw in the prior year quarter, which benefited from items such as favorable adjustment to our iOS app in the US. We reiterate our previous statement that we expect another full year of healthy subscriber growth, weighted more towards the back half of the year.

在訂閱用戶方面，我們預測第二季為2.99億，淨增加600萬。這略低於去年同期顯著優於預期的表現；去年同期受惠於例如我們在美國iOS App的有利調整等因素。我們重申先前的說法：我們預期全年仍將維持健康的訂閱用戶成長，且成長將更偏向下半年。

We are also forecasting total revenue of approximately EUR4.8 billion in quarter two or 15% growth. This reflects the ARPU increase of 7% to 7.5% year-on-year as we see additional benefit from the recently announced pricing action, partially offset by the lapping of pricing actions last year in the Benelux region.

我們也預測第二季總營收約為48億歐元，年增15%。這反映ARPU年對年提升7%至7.5%，因我們看到近期宣布的調價措施帶來額外效益；但部分被去年在比荷盧地區（Benelux）的調價措施進入比較基期（lapping）所抵銷。

We anticipate the quarter two gross margin of 33.1%, approximately 160 basis points above the prior year. Our gross margin outlook incorporates continued strengthening in our core business alongside with the reinvestments into new products and initiatives that we believe set us up well for future monetization potential.

我們預期第二季毛利率為33.1%，較去年同期高出約160個基點。我們的毛利率展望納入核心業務持續走強，同時也包含對新產品與新計畫的再投資；我們相信這些投入能為未來的變現潛力奠定良好基礎。

Moving to the operating income. We are guiding to EUR630 million in quarter two. This reflects the above along with the timing of marketing of our latest features. This also reflects R&D related to strategic AI initiatives that we already drive -- that is already driving engagement. We expect operating expenses to remain at these levels for the next quarter or two, and we are confident that it will enable healthy LTV returns.

接著談營業利益。我們對第二季的指引為6.30億歐元。這反映上述因素，以及我們最新功能行銷推廣的時點安排。這也反映與策略性AI計畫相關的研發投入，而這些計畫已在帶動互動。我們預期未來一到兩季的營業費用將維持在這些水準，並有信心這將帶來健康的LTV回報。

Although we do not provide full year guidance for gross margin and operating margin, we continue to expect both to improve in 2026 on a full year basis, with quarterly progression being variable and dependent on the timing of our investments. We also continue to expect meaningful year-over-year growth in free cash flow in 2026, reflecting our improved profitability and working capital profile, while we're also progressing towards a normalized tax rate in 2027.

雖然我們不提供全年毛利率與營業利益率指引，但我們仍預期2026年在全年基礎上兩者都將改善；各季的進展可能有所波動，並取決於投資時點。我們也持續預期2026年自由現金流將有顯著的年對年成長，反映我們獲利能力與營運資金結構的改善，同時我們也正朝向在2027年回到正常化的稅率邁進。

In conclusion, quarter one was a strong start to 2026. Revenue growth accelerated and profitability improved as we continue to reinvest our future growth potential. We remain really well positioned to continue compounding growth and profitability.

總結來說，第一季為2026年帶來強勁開局。在我們持續再投資於未來成長潛力的同時，營收成長加速、獲利能力也提升。我們仍處於非常有利的位置，能持續累積（compounding）成長與獲利。

With that, I hand it back to you, Bryan.

接下來交回給你，Bryan。

Great. Thanks, Christian. And again, if you've got any questions, please go to slido.com, number SpotifyEarningsQ126. (Operator Instructions) And our first question today is going to come from Ben Black -- oops. I apologize, Ben, I just accidentally resolved it.

好的。謝謝你，Christian。再次提醒，如果各位有任何問題，請到slido.com，代碼SpotifyEarningsQ126。(接線員指示) 我們今天的第一個問題將來自Ben Black——噢。Ben，很抱歉，我剛剛不小心把它標記為已解決了。

We'll get that question back in the queue. One sec. We're going to go to Rich Greenfield. I apologize. Slight technical issue here. We're going to start with Jessica Reif Ehrlich's question on operating expenses.

我們會把那個問題放回隊列。請稍等。我們先轉到Rich Greenfield。抱歉。這裡有一點技術問題。我們將先從Jessica Reif Ehrlich關於營業費用的問題開始。

Q1 had higher marketing cloud and AI spend. Can you discuss the pace of investment for the balance of the year and how you would define a successful outcome for this investment spend?

第一季的行銷、雲端與AI支出較高。你能否談談今年剩餘期間的投資節奏，以及你會如何定義這些投資支出成功的成果？

Jessica, this is Gustav. Thanks for sneaking an AI question right at the top there. They usually take longer to get to. So I'm going to take the opportunity. So we did spend a little bit more on OpEx. And the way to think about it is we have not increased our headcount, actually we slightly decreased our headcount, but we are spending more compute per employee.

Jessica，我是Gustav。謝謝你一開始就「偷渡」了一個AI問題。通常要更久才會輪到。所以我就把握這個機會。我們確實在營業費用（OpEx）上多花了一些。理解方式是：我們並沒有增加人頭，事實上人數還略有下降，但我們每位員工使用的運算資源（compute）更多了。

And that is because we're seeing tremendous return in terms of productivity.

這是因為我們在生產力方面看到了非常可觀的回報。

We talked about accelerating our ability to ship products already during the late fall; that has only accelerated since then. So we're simply doing much more, and we're getting a very good return on that investment.

我們在去年深秋時就談到加速產品交付能力；自那之後只會更快。因此我們只是做了更多事情，而且這項投資帶來了非常好的回報。

But as we ship more features, in order to get the true return on that investment, we also need to tell our users about those features, which is why we're seeing some more sales and marketing spend as we market these features to users.

但當我們推出更多功能時，為了真正取得這些投資的回報，我們也需要讓用戶知道這些功能；這就是為什麼我們在向用戶行銷這些功能時，會看到銷售與行銷支出增加一些。

But the way to think about it is we see tremendous opportunity here. I usually make the analogy to in 2009 when the iPhone came out and the App Store came up, and believe it or not, I was actually here back in 2009, so I lived through that. It was a time of tremendous opportunity.

但整體來看，我們認為這裡有巨大的機會。我通常會用2009年iPhone推出、App Store上線時來類比；信不信由你，我2009年其實就在這裡，所以我親身經歷過。那是一個充滿巨大機會的時代。

Some people sat around and waited. Spotify did not, we took the opportunity. And we drastically accelerated first our conversion to Premium and then our free user growth. We think this opportunity is as big or possibly bigger. So we're taking that opportunity. But we are very diligent and very disciplined about those investments.

有些人坐著等待。Spotify沒有，我們抓住了機會。我們大幅加速了Premium轉換，接著也加速了免費用戶成長。我們認為這次的機會同樣巨大，甚至可能更大。所以我們正在把握這個機會。但我們對這些投資非常審慎、也非常自律。

So we are seeing these returns. I talked in my prepared remarks about the DJ closing in on 100 million users. Also something we released only four weeks ago, Song DNA, is now up to 52 million users, in just four weeks. So we are seeing the kind of growth and return on these future investments that we want to see.

因此我們正在看到這些回報。我在事先準備的談話中提到，DJ功能的用戶數正逼近1億。另外，我們僅在四週前推出的Song DNA，目前也已達到5,200萬用戶，僅用四週時間。所以我們正看到我們希望從這些面向未來的投資中看到的那種成長與回報。

Obviously, we think that usage is a good proxy for retention and retention is a good proxy for revenue long term.

顯然，我們認為使用量是留存的良好代理指標，而留存則是長期營收的良好代理指標。

Okay. Our next question is going to come from Rich Greenfield on the state of the ads business. Growth is still slowing after the meaningful investments in ad tech in 2025 and absorbing the impact from changes to podcast advertising for Premium subs. Why is increased engagement not translating to accelerating ad revenue growth?

好的。下一個問題將來自Rich Greenfield，主題是廣告業務的現況。在2025年對廣告技術進行大量投資、並吸收Premium訂閱用戶播客廣告變更的影響後，成長仍在放緩。為什麼互動提升沒有轉化為廣告營收成長加速？

Rich, my friend. This is Alex. I hope you're doing well. I just wanted, before I expand on the question, I do want to just mention to Jessica. We do -- we -- you should check out Prompted Playlist, global campaign just came online yesterday.

Rich，我的朋友。我是 Alex。希望你一切都好。在我展開回答問題之前，我想先跟 Jessica 提一下。我們——我們——你應該去看看 Prompted Playlist，這個全球活動昨天才剛上線。

It's just a terrific campaign that explains how basically we give you back more control over your Spotify with us using AI. And this is a good point to sort of back up what Gustav just said, it's out there in a while right now and it's performing.

這真的是一個很棒的活動，基本上是在說明我們如何運用 AI，讓你在 Spotify 上能重新掌握更多控制權。而這也正好可以呼應 Gustav 剛才說的重點：它已經在市場上了，而且目前表現不錯。

So let's get back to the ad business. The ad business, Rich, has been seeing very steady progress more recently. But if you take it back 1.5 years or two years almost, we observed that there was a gap. What was the gap? Well, essentially, we saw us missing out on a TAM where people were putting a lot of money.

那我們回到廣告業務。Rich，廣告業務最近的進展非常穩健。但如果回到大約 1.5 年到將近兩年前，我們觀察到存在一個缺口。缺口是什麼？基本上，我們看到自己錯失了一個 TAM（總可服務市場），當時有很多資金正投入其中。

And this time was programmatic, it was automated sales and it was biddable exchanges. And the decision we made back then was a pretty tough one because we had to essentially rebuild the entire stack. And we did that knowing that we would face a bunch of short-term pressure, but that it would unlock meaningfully a much bigger market for us in the long term.

而那個時期就是程式化（programmatic）、自動化銷售，以及可競價的交易所（biddable exchanges）。我們當時做出的決定其實相當艱難，因為我們必須幾乎重建整個技術堆疊。我們在這麼做時就知道短期會面臨不少壓力，但長期而言，這將為我們實質打開更大的市場。

Now that transition is done. So now it's about execution. It's about patience. And really, what you have to believe for this is to work out for us are a couple of different things. But mainly, it's whenever we have seen increased time spent on Spotify, and quality time to boot, right, then -- and then there's a gap to monetization, typically, that gap will close.

現在這個轉換已經完成了。所以接下來就是執行。也需要耐心。而要讓這件事對我們奏效，你需要相信幾件不同的事情。但最主要的是：每當我們看到 Spotify 的使用時長增加，而且是高品質的使用時間，對吧——然後如果變現之間存在落差，通常那個落差最終都會縮小。

It's a question of time, whether it's like you're thinking about it as like advertising as a category, whether it's inside the company, the gap will close. It's just a matter of time. The other things you need to believe in is that really this rebuilt new stack that we have, it actually gives us more opportunity to do new things that we couldn't do before. And obviously, that our measurement and performance shows that Spotify delivers as a brand.

這只是時間問題；不論你把它視為廣告這個類別的時間問題，或是公司內部的時間問題，那個落差都會縮小。只是時間早晚而已。你還需要相信的另一點是：我們重建的這套新堆疊，確實讓我們有更多機會去做以前做不到的新事情。當然，也要相信我們的衡量與成效數據顯示，Spotify 作為品牌能帶來成果。

What hasn't changed, I'll end with that, is that advertisers, they come to Spotify, marketers, they come to Spotify for three different reasons. Our beloved brand that they want to associate themselves with, our high user engagement and also, of course, our high-quality content.

最後我想說的是，沒有改變的一點是：廣告主會來 Spotify、行銷人員會來 Spotify，主要有三個原因。他們喜愛、想與之連結的品牌；我們很高的用戶參與度；以及當然，我們的高品質內容。

Okay. Our next question is going to come from Benjamin Black on gross margin. First quarter Premium gross margin was very strong despite only one month of US pricing. Can you highlight some of the key drivers of the outperformance?

好的。下一題來自 Benjamin Black，關於毛利率。第一季 Premium 毛利率非常強勁，儘管美國調價只反映了一個月。你能否說明一些超預期表現的關鍵驅動因素？

And also dig a bit deeper into the 2Q gross margin guide. Could you talk about the investments you're making that may be weighing on gross margin upside?

另外也請再深入談談第二季毛利率指引。你能談談你們正在進行、可能會壓抑毛利率上行空間的投資嗎？

Benjamin, Alex here. I was looking forward to answering this question, but I don't know what Bryan did there when he sort of hit it. But it's now back up again, I was happy to see that. I mean it's cool that you called it out because both Gustav and Christian are very pleased with the gross margin progression, not just for this quarter but also consistently in the last three years.

Benjamin，我是 Alex。我很期待回答這題，但我不確定 Bryan 剛才在切到這題時做了什麼。不過現在又恢復了，我很高興看到這點。你特別點出來很棒，因為 Gustav 和 Christian 對毛利率的進展都非常滿意，不只是這一季，過去三年也一直如此。

And really, the underlying reason for this is a very healthy core that actually spans both music and podcast and audio books. Now Christian will give you technicalities of that. As far as going forward, I think the important thing is to understand how we think about gross margin.

而這背後的根本原因，是我們有一個非常健康的核心，涵蓋音樂、Podcast 以及有聲書。至於技術細節，Christian 會再補充。展望未來，我認為重要的是理解我們如何看待毛利率。

And like Gustav said, this is a time of tremendous opportunity for us. And the muscle that we've built during the past three years -- actually even four years, is that we think about reinvestments using cost of revenue, using gross margin in a very disciplined way.

而且如 Gustav 所說，這對我們而言是充滿巨大機會的時期。我們在過去三年——其實甚至四年——建立起來的能力，是以非常嚴謹的方式，運用營收成本與毛利率來思考再投資。

We do that. We try to strike a balance between that and margin progression. And again, I think we have a pretty good track record of striking a good balance between these two things.

我們就是這麼做。我們努力在再投資與毛利率提升之間取得平衡。而且我認為我們在這兩者之間取得良好平衡的紀錄相當不錯。

Should I just give you a little bit more flavor on the second quarter gross margin guide as you asked about that. I mean we do have a very strong growth [margin expansion] and we do invest in the same time on the base -- on the top of our core that is going really well. And that we do in quarter two in smaller, minor investments in different things.

至於你問到第二季毛利率指引，我可以再多補充一些脈絡。我們確實有非常強勁的成長（[毛利率擴張]），同時也會在基礎——在我們運作得很好的核心之上——進行投資。而在第二季，我們會在不同項目上做一些較小、較輕量的投資。

And some of them you will you will see today and some of them you will see when we get to Investor Day, and some of them you maybe will see later. But it's a good flow we have right now, and we are very disciplined and working very hard in our weekly bets board to actually update ourselves to see what we want to do.

其中有些你今天就會看到，有些你會在投資人日（Investor Day）時看到，還有一些可能要更晚才會看到。但我們目前的節奏很好，而且我們非常自律，也在每週的 bets board 上非常努力地更新進度，來確認我們想做什麼。

Okay. Our next question is going to come from Doug Anmuth on AI products. Can you update us on your progress towards new AI products that would empower users to create new content and enable derivatives of existing music? What are the hurdles to launching these products? And do you expect that they would impact your cost structure or margin trajectory in any meaningful way?

好的。下一題來自 Doug Anmuth，關於 AI 產品。你能否更新一下你們在推進新 AI 產品方面的進度——這些產品將賦能用戶創作新內容，並能基於既有音樂產生衍生作品？推出這些產品的障礙是什麼？你是否預期它們會在成本結構或毛利率走勢上產生任何實質影響？

Doug, this is Gustav. I'll take this. I'll talk about this a little bit before. So for now, I'll mostly reiterate how we actually think about this opportunity. The way to think about it is that the generative market, for example, for music is really two things.

Doug，我是 Gustav。我來回答。我之前也稍微談過這個。所以現在我主要會重申我們如何看待這個機會。可以這樣理解：例如音樂的生成式市場，基本上是兩件事。

It's net new music, which is happening at scale and quickly increasing the catalog. And that, we think, is good for a company that aggregates content, because it makes the recommendation prompt even more important.

第一是全新的音樂（net new music），它正在以規模化方式發生，並且快速增加曲庫。我們認為這對內容聚合型公司是好事，因為這會讓推薦提示（recommendation prompt）變得更重要。

I think it's worth thinking about, I just mentioned, reveal my age here, saying that I joined Spotify in 2008. When I joined, I think the music catalog was about 2 million tracks, and now something like 250 million tracks. So the growth of the catalog is not new. We think it's going to keep increasing. And that means that the recommendation prompt gets more important for consumers.

我覺得值得一提的是——我剛才也提到，算是暴露年紀——我在 2008 年加入 Spotify。我加入時，音樂曲庫大約是 200 萬首，現在大概是 2.5 億首。所以曲庫成長並不是新鮮事。我們認為它還會持續增加。這也意味著，對消費者而言，推薦提示會變得更重要。

But what we think there is a unique opportunity is that, right now, existing creators are largely left out of the AI opportunity altogether. Many creators are using AI to make new music, but existing creators cannot join. That's because the copyright problem is much more complicated to [solve well] and the attribution problem of who should get paid what is much harder.

但我們認為真正獨特的機會在於：目前既有創作者在 AI 機會上幾乎被排除在外。很多創作者正在用 AI 製作新音樂，但既有創作者卻無法參與。這是因為著作權問題要[妥善解決]更為複雜，而「誰應該拿到多少報酬」的歸因問題也更難。

But we love hard problems. So that's the problem we want to go after. We want to take this opportunity to existing creators as well, with derivatives of existing IP. So as I've said before, we have the capabilities and technologies we need. We are the right company to solve this problem. And we think that existing creators should participate in AI just as well as new creators.

但我們喜歡難題。所以這就是我們想要攻克的問題。我們希望也把這個機會帶給既有創作者，讓他們也能基於既有 IP 的衍生作品參與其中。所以如我之前所說，我們具備所需的能力與技術。我們是解決這個問題的合適公司。而且我們認為，既有創作者也應該像新創作者一樣參與 AI。

Okay. Our next question comes from Justin Patterson on productivity. We're seeing many companies wrestle with headcount investment versus rising AI costs. How is Spotify approaching this problem in gauging employee productivity?

好的。下一個問題來自 Justin Patterson，關於生產力。我們看到許多公司在員工人力投資與不斷上升的 AI 成本之間拉扯。Spotify 在評估員工生產力時，是如何應對這個問題的？

Yes. So this is Gustav again. Thank you, Justin. I kind of mentioned this, I snuck this point in before, but I'll reiterate that we are seeing tremendous productivity growth. You can translate that into different things. You could translate it straight into cost savings and cut headcount, which some companies out there are doing.

是的。我是 Gustav，再次回答。謝謝你，Justin。我之前其實有稍微提到、也順帶帶過這一點，但我再重申一次：我們正看到非常顯著的生產力成長。你可以把這解讀成不同的事情。你可以直接把它轉化為成本節省並裁減人力，外面有些公司確實在這麼做。

The other thing you could do is to say we're going to be roughly the same amount of people. We're just going to do more. The third thing you could do, which you also see many companies doing is saying we should invest like crazy because there's so much opportunity.

另一種做法是說，我們的人數大致維持不變。我們只是要做更多。第三種做法，你也看到很多公司在做，就是說我們應該瘋狂投資，因為機會太多了。

Right now, we're going for the middle approach. We're keeping our headcount roughly flat and just doing much more, shipping more value to consumers.

目前我們採取的是中間路線。我們讓人力規模大致持平，然後做更多事情，向消費者交付更多價值。

And then on the question on how we measure this. You have many proxies on the way. So one proxy for this would be something very technical, like pull request, what amount of code is getting written, and maybe better proxies, how much we actually ship. We have something called DODs, definitions of done, for any feature that we build. So how many DODs are getting done?

至於如何衡量這件事。一路上有很多代理指標（proxy）。其中一個代理指標可能是很技術性的，例如 pull request、寫了多少程式碼；而可能更好的代理指標是我們實際交付了多少。我們對於任何要打造的功能都有一個叫 DODs（definitions of done，完成定義）的東西。所以有多少 DODs 被完成了？

How many bets do we have on this bets board that I think Christian mentioned and I talked about before. And all of these keep increasing. And they're increasing several times. They're not increasing 10%. They're increasing -- they're doubling, that kind of increase. So we're seeing all of these metrics.

我們在那個我想 Christian 提過、我之前也談過的 bets board（押注看板）上有多少個押注？而這些數字都在持續上升。而且是成倍增加。不是增加 10%。而是增加——翻倍那種增幅。所以我們看到所有這些指標。

Now we are starting to see these things ship. And as I mentioned, with things like Song DNA [IDJ] starting to see them translate into usage. And usage, as Alex mentioned, is a really good predictor of retention, and retention is a predictor of revenue.

現在我們也開始看到這些東西被交付上線。如我提到的，像 Song DNA [IDJ] 這類功能開始轉化為使用量。而使用量，正如 Alex 提到的，是留存（retention）的非常好預測指標，而留存又是營收的預測指標。

And as Alex mentioned as well, we have three different modes of monetizing features. There is the free tier, where you can maximize the reach, we are one of the world's largest subscription where you can bundle things.

另外如 Alex 也提到，我們有三種不同的功能變現模式。有免費層級（free tier），你可以把觸及最大化；我們也是全球最大的訂閱服務之一，你可以把各種內容打包（bundle）。

And then as of recently, we've also shown that we can do top-ups like within audiobooks, which we are very excited about the progress on and the numbers that we are seeing. So we feel very good. What I'm trying to convey is that we are diligent and disciplined, but we are not sitting around waiting for this opportunity to go past us. We are taking the opportunity. So that's where we are right now.

然後最近我們也證明了，我們可以做加購（top-ups），例如在有聲書裡面；我們對目前看到的進展與數字都非常振奮。所以我們感覺非常好。我想傳達的是：我們做事很勤勉、很自律，但我們不會坐等機會從身邊溜走。我們正在把握機會。所以這就是我們目前的狀態。

And just to give a little bit of historical flavor on that, I just want to add and remind us that, some years ago, we did a resizing of the organization. And since then, as you've seen, we haven't increased our employees, and we have been very diligent in keeping the overall platform stable. And as of last quarter, we decreased with 65 people. So it's not like we are growing people and doing that, and we haven't done that -- we haven't done that for three years. It's been a very disciplined approach to this.

再補充一點歷史背景，我也想提醒大家：幾年前我們做過一次組織規模調整。而從那之後，如你們所見，我們沒有增加員工人數，並且一直非常謹慎地維持整體平台的穩定。而在上一季，我們還減少了 65 人。所以並不是我們一邊擴編一邊做這些事；而且我們已經——我們已經三年沒有這麼做了。這一直是一個非常自律的做法。

I think, yes, Alex here is probably too humble to state himself, so I'll say it for him, Alex is actually the one who set this plan about three years ago to get Spotify to be profitable, and we've been executing on this plan. So we are very diligent with our cost.

我想，是的，Alex 在這裡可能太謙虛不願意自己說，所以我替他說：其實大約三年前，Alex 就制定了讓 Spotify 走向獲利的這個計畫，而我們一直在執行這個計畫。所以我們在成本方面非常謹慎。

Thank you. That wasn't planned, giving me that much praise. It's both of us, of course. It's both of us.

謝謝。這不是事先安排好要給我這麼多稱讚的。當然是我們兩個一起。是我們兩個。

All right. Our next question is going to come from Deepak Mathivanan on our Ubiquity strategy. You have integrated Spotify and leading AI applications already, ChatGPT last year and Claude more recently. Can you talk about what type of traffic you're seeing and how consumers are using Spotify in AI applications at this time? And how are AI applications helping KPIs such as MAUs and time spent?

好的。下一個問題將來自 Deepak Mathivanan，關於我們的 Ubiquity（無所不在）策略。你們已經把 Spotify 與領先的 AI 應用整合，去年是 ChatGPT、最近是 Claude。你能談談你們目前看到的流量型態，以及消費者此刻如何在 AI 應用中使用 Spotify 嗎？另外，AI 應用如何幫助 MAUs、使用時長等 KPI？

It's really all about AI today. That's great. So we are -- there are a few ways to think about this. As you know, Spotify has had a few core pillars, one being [freemium] and other being personalization and the third being ubiquity. So one way to think about this is [just ubiquity].

今天真的一切都跟 AI 有關。很好。所以我們——有幾種思考方式。如你所知，Spotify 有幾個核心支柱：一個是 [freemium]（免費增值），另一個是個人化，第三個是 ubiquity（無所不在）。所以其中一種思考方式是[就是無所不在]。

Spotify was always going to be everywhere, right? This has been a counter strategy to some of our competitors who favor their own ecosystems. So this goes for ChatGPT, Claude, et cetera as well. We just want to be wherever users are. And so that's a simple way to think about it.

Spotify 一直都會在任何地方，對吧？這一直是我們用來對抗某些偏好自家生態系的競爭對手的一種反向策略。所以這同樣適用於 ChatGPT、Claude 等等。我們只是想在使用者所在之處出現。所以用這樣想就很簡單。

And I also mentioned that we track usage and engagement and costs very diligently, and we are seeing what we want to see.

而且我也提到，我們非常勤勉地追蹤使用量、互動度與成本，而我們看到的結果符合我們想看到的。

In terms of the type of traffic, it depends on the future, but what Alex mentioned upfront is we have, for the first time in the Spotify history, this ability for users to actually tell us in plain English or actually whatever language they want, what they want. We were always guessing. Old-school machine learning was a statistical activity based on clicks and streams.

就流量型態而言，這取決於未來的發展；但 Alex 一開始提到的是：我們在 Spotify 歷史上第一次有能力讓使用者用白話英文——或其實任何他們想用的語言——直接告訴我們他們想要什麼。我們過去一直在猜。傳統機器學習是一種基於點擊與串流的統計活動。

Now people are telling us in English that they're going for a run and they want this BPM and that cadence and so forth. So we're getting this treasure trove of data that we are capturing, training on it. And this builds a unique advantage for us.

現在人們會用英文告訴我們他們要去跑步，想要這個 BPM、那個步頻（cadence）等等。所以我們得到了一座資料寶庫；我們正在擷取這些資料並用來訓練。而這為我們建立了獨特優勢。

I talked last time about the large personalization model, which is a model that we're training from based on open source models. But it's trained on our proprietary data. This is not something that we rent from someone.

我上次談到大型個人化模型（large personalization model），這是我們基於開源模型來訓練的模型。但它是用我們的專有資料訓練的。這不是我們向別人租來的東西。

This is something we're building in-house. And the casual name for the large personalization model is a taste model. Why is that important? It is because it turns out that taste is actually not a fact. It is an opinion, and it differs between people, between markets, between use cases and activities.

這是我們在內部自行打造的。大型個人化模型的通俗名稱是「品味模型」（taste model）。為什麼這很重要？因為事實證明，品味其實不是一個事實。它是一種主觀意見，而且會因人、因市場、因使用情境與活動而不同。

So that is the kind of usage that we were hoping to see in Prompted Playlist in IDJ, and that's exactly what we are seeing, very advanced usage that is giving us a type of data we never had before.

所以這就是我們原本希望在 IDJ 的 Prompted Playlist 中看到的那種使用方式，而我們確實正看到：非常進階的使用行為，帶來了我們以前從未擁有過的一類資料。

And now we're just heads-down serving those use cases better than anyone else.

而現在我們就是埋頭把這些使用情境服務得比任何人都更好。

Let me jump in on the action here a little bit, Gustav. So you -- I think it's important that you're hearing Gustav say this and I say sometimes about how we think. I think as a general approach, it's good for us to explain to you how we think about things so that you can understand how it applies to other things as well.

Gustav，讓我在這裡稍微加入一下。所以你——我認為重要的是，你們聽到 Gustav 這樣說，以及我有時也會談到我們的思考方式。我想作為一個整體方法，我們最好向你們解釋我們如何思考事情，這樣你們也能理解它如何同樣適用於其他事情。

I think when Gustav said earlier on -- in response to another question that when the music catalog grows and when our content platform grows in volume, it's always been good. It's good for users, it's good for the industries that we're in and so on.

我認為，正如 Gustav 先前所說——回應另一個問題時提到，當音樂曲庫成長、當我們的內容平台在量體上成長時，這一直都是好事。這對使用者有利、對我們所處的產業也有利，等等。

But then the second thing that happens is something we've also said for a long time, and Daniel broached this many times in these calls, that we optimize for the long term, and we talk about optimizing for lifetime value. So how do you bridge these two things, with an ever-increasing catalog of content and lifetime value?

但接著發生的第二件事，是我們也講了很久的事，而且 Daniel 在這些電話會議中多次提到：我們以長期為優先來做最佳化，並且談的是針對終身價值（LTV）進行最佳化。那麼，面對內容曲庫持續擴增與終身價值之間，你要如何把這兩者連結起來？

Well, it turns out that the number 1 reason for why people actually engage more with Spotify is personalization. And how we track that is if AI increases engagement for us, it generally means that it increases personalization for us, right?

結果顯示，人們之所以更常與 Spotify 互動的第一大原因，是個人化。而我們追蹤這件事的方式是：如果 AI 提升了我們的互動度，通常就代表它提升了我們的個人化程度，對吧？

And increased personalization engagement, to Gustav's points, are going to lead to -- well, they are going to be the best proxies for the increase in retention that we're going to see over time with these investments. And if that happens, then we know that that will eventually translate to a longer lifetime value, which in turn translates to more enterprise value.

而個人化互動度的提升，呼應 Gustav 的觀點，將會帶來——嗯，它們將會是我們隨著這些投資、在時間推移中所看到留存率提升的最佳代理指標。如果那真的發生，我們就知道最終會轉化為更長的終身價值，而這又會轉化為更高的企業價值。

So that's how we think about the investments.

所以我們就是用這樣的方式來思考這些投資。

Okay. Our next question is going to come from Eric Sheridan on operating expenses. Can you frame the key platform and product initiatives that are driving incremental operating expense trends? How should investors think about the trajectory of operating margins going forward?

好的。下一個問題將由 Eric Sheridan 提出，主題是營運費用。你能否說明推動營運費用增量趨勢的關鍵平台與產品計畫？投資人應該如何看待未來營業利益率的走勢？

I'll start with them, and then Christian can talk about the trajectory. So I've kind of mentioned it already in terms of the OpEx spend, that it's a mix of increased compute, not increased headcount, and sales and marketing, to make sure that we capture the value of the features that we're now launching.

我先回答，接著 Christian 可以談談走勢。我其實已經稍微提過 OpEx 的支出組成：它是增加運算（compute）而不是增加人頭，以及銷售與行銷的組合，確保我們能把現在推出的功能所帶來的價值充分掌握住。

To give you a bit more detail in what do we mean with compute, well, it's a few different things, actually. One is just using things like code, codecs, et cetera, to accelerate our development pace, and building some proprietary systems around that. I talked a little bit about [Honk] last time. I have many more exciting things to talk about if you guys want to go there, that we are doing. But that's just one type, accelerating our productivity of writing code.

再多補充一點，我們所說的運算（compute）是什麼意思？其實包含幾個不同面向。其中之一是使用像是程式碼、編解碼器（codecs）等等來加速我們的開發節奏，並在此之上建立一些自有系統。我上次稍微談到一點 [Honk]。如果你們想深入，我還有更多令人興奮、我們正在做的事情可以分享。但那只是其中一種：加速我們撰寫程式碼的生產力。

But then as I also mentioned briefly, we are training rather large models in-house, because we have lots and lots of unique data that no one else has. For example, the large personalization model, which is not something that you can rent or buy off the Internet.

另外，如我也簡短提到的，我們正在內部訓練相當大型的模型，因為我們擁有大量且獨特、其他人沒有的資料。例如大型個人化模型，這不是你能在網路上租用或買到的東西。

You literally need 700 million plus people every day using the platform to be able to say what is trending in a certain region in India right now.

你真的需要每天有超過 7 億人使用這個平台，才有辦法判斷此刻印度某個地區正在流行什麼。

So a lot of it is training -- or some of it is training cost, and that's upfront. And we'll capture that value when those products roll out. And some of it is this direct productivity in terms of development costs. So think of part of it's strategic investment, part of it as a productivity investment.

所以其中很大一部分是訓練——或說有一部分是訓練成本，而且那是前期投入。當那些產品推出時，我們就會把價值收回來。另外一部分則是開發成本面向的直接生產力提升。所以可以把它想成：一部分是策略性投資，一部分是生產力投資。

Yes. And when we see product market fit with the features that we launch, it just leads to an opportunity for us to talk more about it, meaning we can start telling compelling marketing stories around it to scale it even further, on top of this healthy core that we have. It's all about awareness and (inaudible) and part market fit.

是的。而當我們推出的功能看到產品市場契合（product-market fit）時，就會帶來一個機會讓我們更常談論它，也就是說，我們可以開始圍繞它講出有說服力的行銷故事，讓它在我們既有健康核心之上進一步擴大規模。這一切都關乎知名度與（聽不清楚）以及部分的市場契合。

And what we highlighted, and I did in my script, was that the next two quarters will be a little bit elevated from this. And we do have a different pattern on our launches this year of products, and that's what Alex talked about. And the R&D, of course, is extremely important for building the tech stack that we are delivering to our customers. So I just want to say with that also that what we did say and we reiterate is that the operating margin will improve year over year.

我們所強調的——我在講稿裡也提到——是接下來兩個季度會比目前略為偏高一些。而我們今年的產品發布節奏也不同，這就是 Alex 談到的部分。當然，研發（R&D）對於打造我們交付給客戶的技術堆疊至關重要。所以我也想補充，我們所說的、並再次重申的是：營業利益率將會逐年改善。

All right. Our next question comes from Justin Patterson on the new free tier. For Alex and Christian, how are you judging the higher cost of the free tier versus subscriber conversion and your LTV framework? How does this compare to your expectations when rolling this out last September?

好。下一個問題來自 Justin Patterson，主題是新的免費層級。想請 Alex 與 Christian 說明：你們如何在免費層級較高成本、訂閱轉換，以及你們的 LTV 架構之間做評估？這與你們去年 9 月推出時的預期相比如何？

All right. Justin, good question. I'll start and then Christian will fill in. So you heard me in the remarks saying that we, in particular, pay a lot of attention to the number of days in a month that users spend on Spotify. So I'd much rather someone spent many days in a month rather than many hours per day.

好。Justin，這是個好問題。我先回答，然後 Christian 再補充。你們在我剛才的發言中也聽到，我們特別關注使用者在一個月內使用 Spotify 的天數。所以我更希望某個人一個月使用很多天，而不是每天使用很多小時。

Of course, you would want both, but if you have to prioritize, it's the many days in a month. And really, we -- internally, we talk about it as the lifeblood of our system. And if you look back on the development of the free tier, the new more enhanced free tier that we launched, I can't remember, is it a little bit more than a year ago now, we have seen consistently that the free tier users have increased in the active days in a month.

當然兩者都想要，但如果必須取捨，我們會優先看一個月內使用很多天。而且我們在內部把它稱為我們系統的命脈。如果你回頭看免費層級的演進——我們推出的那個更強化的新免費層級，我不太記得了，是不是已經一年多了——我們持續看到免費層級使用者在一個月內的活躍天數增加。

Now what does that mean? Well, we've had this consistent increase for many years, basically from like '21, '22, '23 and so on. But when we launched new improved free tier globally, we saw this just step change, which essentially means that people are liking the free tier much more, right? It's satisfaction and more usage and more days in a month. So that is always going to downstream lead to more subscriber conversion and eventually lifetime value.

那這代表什麼？嗯，過去很多年我們其實一直都有穩定成長，大概從 '21、'22、'23 等等一路如此。但當我們把全新的改良版免費層級在全球推出時，我們看到一個明顯的階躍式變化（step change），這基本上表示人們更喜歡這個免費層級了，對吧？也就是更高的滿意度、更高的使用量，以及一個月內更多使用天數。因此，這些下游一定會帶來更多訂閱轉換，最終提升終身價值。

I mean it's just blown up my expectations fully since we launched this last summer.

老實說，自從我們去年夏天推出以來，它完全超出我的預期。

So just chiming in. I guess you also have then read the numbers and maybe a little bit surprised that, in the quarter, was one of the few times we've had a negative development on the yearover-year gross margin on the ads business.

我補充一下。我想你們也看到了數字，可能也有點意外：本季度是少數幾次之一，我們的廣告業務毛利率在年對年（YoY）出現負向變化。

But that is really coming back to the great engagement we have, and the engagement is driving more content cost right now than the income on top line. But the beauty in that and the healthy thing with that is that, of course, that means that we will be able to monetize that as we go into the future quarters and that will be then a positive push going forward. So that is really a short-term issue.

但那其實回到我們非常好的互動度，而互動度目前推動的內容成本增加，超過了營收端（top line）的增幅。不過其中的美妙之處、也是健康的地方在於：這當然意味著我們在接下來的季度能夠把它變現，而那將會成為未來的正向推力。所以這真的是一個短期問題。

Okay. Our next question is from Rich Greenfield on fitness. Fitness will undoubtedly drive increased video engagement on Spotify, particularly on TV screens. How does this impact your video ad business? And how should we think about the cost impact you will bear within the Premium business from adding this content?

好的。下一個問題來自 Rich Greenfield，主題是健身。健身無疑會推動 Spotify 的影片互動增加，特別是在電視螢幕上。這會如何影響你們的影片廣告業務？另外，將這些內容加入 Premium 業務後，你們需要承擔的成本影響應該如何看待？

I know you love your TV and Apple TV, Rich, so hopefully, we'll see you using Spotify pumping iron in front of the TV or maybe doing some stretching. You should think about this launch as a launch in fitness that basically is something that's happening organically already on Spotify. This is something we're doubling down on. And much like we did when we launched podcast at first and also audio books, we saw the behavior organically happening on the platform.

Rich，我知道你很愛你的電視和 Apple TV，所以希望我們能看到你在電視前用 Spotify 舉鐵，或許做做伸展。你應該把這次發布視為健身領域的一次推出，而這件事其實在 Spotify 上本來就已經自然地發生了。我們只是加碼投入。而且就像我們當初推出 Podcast、以及有聲書時一樣，我們先看到這些行為在平台上自然發生。

And if you think about the TAM here, the demand here, in our research, we have this staggering number that says that 70% of our premium users actually train or work out or go to the gym or do yoga every month. And you can also see it in the numbers, hundreds of millions of playlists are being created to do yoga, to go to the gym and so on and so forth, right?

如果你思考一下這裡的 TAM（總可服務市場）、這裡的需求，根據我們的研究，我們有一個驚人的數字：我們的 Premium 付費用戶中有 70% 實際上每個月都會訓練、運動、去健身房或做瑜伽。而且你也能從數據中看到：有數以億計的播放清單被建立，用來做瑜伽、去健身房等等，對吧？

So this is us doubling down on that trend. And little did we know when about 1.5 years ago when we launched [SBP], the ad-free video experience for Spotify Premium users, we saw a lot of fitness in structures and fitness creators just, unprompted, upload a lot of videos to Spotify.

所以這就是我們在這個趨勢上加碼投入。而我們在大約 1.5 年前推出 [SBP]（提供給 Spotify Premium 用戶的無廣告影片體驗）時，其實也沒想到，我們看到很多健身機構和健身內容創作者在沒有任何提示的情況下，就大量把影片上傳到 Spotify。

And if you think about it, this is really what we do, right? This is -- we use our platform to bridge the demand between creatives, like a fitness instructor, and users. We connect them using our trimodal economic engines like ads, subscriptions and top-ups.

而如果你仔細想想，這其實就是我們在做的事，對吧？也就是——我們用平台去連結創作者（例如健身教練）與用戶之間的需求。我們透過廣告、訂閱與加值（top-ups）等三模態的經濟引擎把他們連結起來。

And we do that between creatives. And this is what we're seeing with fitness right now for us. So we do look forward to this expanding even more.

而我們就是在創作者之間做這件事。這也是我們現在在健身領域所看到的情況。所以我們也很期待它能進一步擴大。

And I'll just give you the highlight of how I'm using it. We're seeing some tennis content come online. I play tennis, not that I'm very good at all, but I still play a lot. So when I'm sort of gearing up for a bit of a tournament, then, it's an amateur tournament, then I'll see recommendations in the future coming up with podcast videos telling me how to stretch and relax before I go into that week. Maybe there's some instructional videos that tell me how to improve my (inaudible) backhand.

我就簡單分享一下我自己怎麼用它。我們看到一些網球內容開始上線。我打網球——雖然我一點也不算厲害——但我還是打得很勤。所以當我在為某個小型比賽做準備時——是業餘比賽——未來我可能會看到一些推薦，例如 podcast 影片告訴我在那一週上場前要怎麼伸展、怎麼放鬆。也許還會有一些教學影片告訴我如何改善我的（聽不清）反手。

Maybe I'll get an audio book recommendation on how to think about tennis playing. So this is really something that we're happy to invest in. This is a demand trend that's happening right now in Spotify.

也許我還會收到一本有聲書的推薦，內容是如何思考網球的打法。所以這確實是我們很樂意投資的方向。這是目前正在 Spotify 上發生的一個需求趨勢。

All right. Our next question comes from Jessica Reif Ehrlich on ARPU. Have you seen anything unusual in subscriber reaction to your recent price increase? And could you talk about tools for further ARPU expansion from here?

好。下一個問題來自 Jessica Reif Ehrlich，關於 ARPU（每用戶平均收入）。你們是否看到訂閱用戶對近期漲價有任何不尋常的反應？另外，你們能談談接下來進一步提升 ARPU 的工具嗎？

You saw us increase price around the world at -- in the last quarter of last year. And then you saw us increase in the U.S. in this most recent quarter. No surprises at all for us.

你們看到我們在去年最後一季於全球各地調漲價格。然後你們也看到我們在最近這一季於美國調漲。對我們來說完全沒有任何意外。

(inaudible) tools, I mean how do we feel about increasing ARPU over time? I mean I think one of the things we have talked about is when you bring engagement and more verticals, you can actually monetize on that. But on top of that, I think we've proven with the model with audio books and top-ups, that that is a way to bring more monetization on our platform from our subscribers. And we continue to look at those kind of elements.

（聽不清）工具，我的意思是，我們如何看待隨時間提升 ARPU？我想我們談過的一點是，當你帶來更高的互動與更多垂直領域時，你其實可以把它變現。但除此之外，我認為我們也已經透過有聲書與加值（top-ups）的模式證明，這是一種能從訂閱用戶身上在我們平台上帶來更多變現的方法。而我們也會持續關注這類要素。

I'll just jump in here. Alex talked a little bit about us explaining how we think. And I think one useful model to think about, not just Spotify, actually all consumer products, is that people talk about averages, your average usage and so forth, but almost nothing is an average. It's almost always a [power law]. You have a long tail of users who use something a little and then you have a head of people who use it a lot.

我補充一下。Alex 剛剛稍微談到我們如何解釋我們的思考方式。我覺得一個很有用的模型，不只是用來看 Spotify，其實所有消費性產品都一樣：人們常談平均值、平均使用量等等，但幾乎沒有什麼真的是平均。它幾乎總是符合「[power law]（冪次法則）」。你會有一條很長的尾端，用得比較少的用戶；同時也會有一個頭部，用得非常多的人。

And so Spotify always had the business model to capture the long tail, which requires a free tier, and to capture a bunch of the averagely engaged users in premium. But until we launched audio books add-on, we didn't really have a tool to capture the head, the people who want to read for hundreds of hours a month. We had a clear theory that we could capture the entire [power law], but we haven't proven it to ourselves until recently. Now we have those three tools. So we feel very good about just getting more usage on the platform and use these three tools to monetize it.

因此 Spotify 一直以來的商業模式，是去承接那條長尾——這需要免費層級——並在 Premium 中承接一批互動程度中等的用戶。但在我們推出有聲書加購（add-on）之前，我們其實沒有工具去承接頭部，也就是那些每個月想閱讀數百小時的人。我們有一個清楚的理論：我們可以覆蓋整個 [power law]，但直到最近我們才真正對自己證明這點。現在我們有了那三種工具。所以我們對於讓平台使用量持續提升、並用這三種工具來變現，感到非常有信心。

Okay. Next question from Steven Cahall on AI music. Does Spotify believe in an AI music creation tier? And if so, what are the sticking points with content partners and how might it be priced to Premium users?

好。下一個問題來自 Steven Cahall，關於 AI 音樂。Spotify 是否相信會有一個 AI 音樂創作的層級（tier）？如果是的話，與內容合作夥伴之間的癥結點是什麼？以及對 Premium 用戶可能會如何定價？

Yes. So this is Gustav. I've touched on this a little bit. What we do believe in is that there is a lot of opportunity out there for creators who want to use AI tools, but there is an opportunity that no one is addressing right now for existing artists. And we really want to address that part. We don't think existing artists should be left out of AI. We think that may actually be the most interesting part of music.

是的。我是 Gustav。我之前稍微提過這點。我們相信，對於想使用 AI 工具的創作者而言，外面有很多機會；但目前沒有人在處理的一個機會，是針對既有藝人（existing artists）。而我們非常想要解決的就是這一塊。我們不認為既有藝人應該被排除在 AI 之外。我們認為那可能其實才是音樂最有趣的部分。

If you look at other industries, existing IP is actually the most valuable IP, not the least valuable. But because of our AI music works right now, that is not addressable. That's the problem we want to solve. We think there's a big opportunity for creators and for Spotify and for investors there. And so we think that there's a big opportunity to expand the music catalog, and that is obviously good for us, but we think there is also a big opportunity for existing artists that isn't addressed yet.

如果你看其他產業，既有 IP 往往才是最有價值的 IP，而不是最沒價值的。但以我們目前 AI 音樂的運作方式來看，這一塊是無法被觸及、無法被服務的。這就是我們想解決的問題。我們認為這對創作者、對 Spotify、對投資人而言都有很大的機會。因此我們認為擴大音樂曲庫有很大的機會，這顯然對我們有利；但我們也認為，對既有藝人而言也存在一個尚未被解決的巨大機會。

Okay. Back to Benjamin Black with another question on fitness. Yesterday, you announced a partnership with Peloton. Could you highlight the strategic rationale? And also, could you talk about the cost structure of this deal? And how does this compare to audio books or the Spotify Partner Program spending? And is it reasonable to think that monetization will follow a similar strategy to audio books back in 2024/2025?

好。回到 Benjamin Black 的另一個健身相關問題。昨天你們宣布與 Peloton 建立合作夥伴關係。你能強調一下策略上的理由嗎？另外，你能談談這筆交易的成本結構嗎？以及這與有聲書或 Spotify Partner Program 的支出相比如何？是否可以合理地認為，變現會沿用類似於 2024/2025 年有聲書的策略？

Benjamin, good question. I like our partnership with Peloton. Although we don't talk about the specific deals, you know that, I can let you know that this is content that's ad-free. It's high-quality content that normally resides within subscriptions that retail at a much higher price. So we're putting that on Premium inside the fitness category.

Benjamin，問得好。我喜歡我們與 Peloton 的合作。雖然我們不會談具體交易細節——你也知道——但我可以告訴你，這些內容是無廣告的。這是高品質內容，通常是在訂閱服務中提供，而其零售訂閱價格要高得多。所以我們把它放到 Premium 裡的健身類別中。

And so your question is how does this compare to audio books? Well, in that sense, it actually is similar to audio books and SBP.

所以你的問題是，這和有聲書相比如何？嗯，從這個角度來看，它其實和有聲書以及 SBP 類似。

Okay. A question from Maria Ripps on advertising. Higher engagement among ad-supported users is clearly a positive. What needs to happen for that engagement to start translating into gross margin tailwinds?

好。一個來自 Maria Ripps、關於廣告的問題。廣告支持（ad-supported）用戶的更高互動顯然是正面因素。要發生什麼事，這些互動才會開始轉化為毛利率的順風（tailwinds）？

I think just to continue the work on the steady progress that we've had so far with the new ad stack, getting not just more programmatic ad sales on top, which is growing very, very fast right now, but also sort of looking holistically at the whole system, including direct sales.

我想就是要持續推進我們目前在新廣告技術堆疊（new ad stack）上所取得的穩健進展，不只是讓上層的程式化廣告銷售（programmatic ad sales）更多——它現在成長非常、非常快——同時也要更全面地看待整個系統，包括直客銷售（direct sales）。

I just want to reiterate that the Q1 gross margin that we had was a very small one and that was a short-term issue. And we reiterate what we have said now for six months, that we see that the second half of 2026 is where we see the growth picking up.

我只想再次強調，我們第一季的毛利率非常小，那是短期問題。我們也重申過去六個月一直在說的：我們認為成長動能會在2026年下半年開始加速。

And I just want to say that again, as there were a lot of questions around it today. We have said for quite a long time now that it is the second half where you see the progress coming through.

我也想再說一次，因為今天圍繞這點有很多問題。我們已經講了相當長一段時間，進展會在下半年逐步顯現。

Okay. We've got another question from Doug Anmuth on tiering. You've recently shifted tiers to feature and product sets in a handful of markets, essentially enabling good, better, and best versions of Spotify. What have been the early learnings with this move? And how could they apply to more mature or established markets?

好的。我們收到Doug Anmuth關於分層（tiering）的另一個問題。你們最近在少數市場把分層調整為以功能與產品組合為基礎，基本上讓Spotify有「好、更好、最好」三種版本。這項調整的早期學習是什麼？以及這些學習如何應用到更成熟或已建立的市場？

I love that you paid attention to this, Doug. This is one of my personal favorites. It's very, very early, and I can't say much about it. But the early indications are that when we deploy these types of value proposition frameworks, we do see a structural increase in ARPU. But it may be too early to talk about specifics just now.

Doug，我很喜歡你有注意到這點。這是我個人最喜歡的項目之一。目前還非常、非常早期，我不能多說。但初步跡象顯示，當我們部署這類價值主張框架時，確實會看到ARPU出現結構性的提升。不過現在談具體細節可能還太早。

We're positive about it.

我們對此持正面看法。

Okay. Our next question comes from Sean Diffley on conversion. How should we think about the conversion of free-to-paid subs in 2026 relative to prior years given the enhancements to the mobile free tier? And how much of the increase in marketing spend is related to this versus other features that are on the app now or coming later this year?

好的。下一個問題來自Sean Diffley，關於轉換（conversion）。鑑於行動端免費層級的強化，2026年免費轉付費訂閱的轉換應該如何相較於往年來看？另外，行銷支出增加中，有多少與此相關，相較於App上目前已有或今年稍晚將推出的其他功能？

Maybe Gustav can comment on other features on the app and so on, but I'll start by responding to your first question. I've said it many times before: engagement and really the free tier is the best leading indicator to how our system spins. If you have more engagement and if you have a free tier that's thriving and growing fast, that will eventually translate to more retention, to someone converting over to subscriptions, and thereby also generating lifetime value for the company.

也許Gustav可以評論一下App上的其他功能等等，但我先回答你的第一個問題。我以前說過很多次：互動度，尤其是免費層級，是我們系統運轉狀況最好的領先指標。如果互動度更高、免費層級蓬勃發展且快速成長，最終會轉化為更高的留存、更多人轉為訂閱，並進而為公司帶來終身價值。

And in terms of the spend, it's spread among many features. We are trying to market the features that are differentiated. A lot of them are focused on the Premium tier, maybe more so than on the free tier. The free tier is sort of selling itself because it's free.

至於支出方面，會分散在許多功能上。我們正嘗試行銷那些具差異化的功能。其中很多更聚焦在Premium層級，可能比免費層級更是如此。免費層級某種程度上會自己「賣」自己，因為它是免費的。

All right. And our last question today is going to come from William Packer on AI. Investor concerns over AI disruption have increased. Could you outline the key moats for Spotify that limit the risk from one, stand-alone low-cost free AI music alternatives; two, large platform peers that offer free AI music services; and three, competition from AI-first alternatives which integrate label content?

好的。今天最後一個問題來自William Packer，關於AI。投資人對AI顛覆的擔憂正在升高。你能否概述Spotify的關鍵護城河，以降低以下風險：一、獨立、低成本、免費的AI音樂替代方案；二、提供免費AI音樂服務的大型平台同業；三、整合唱片公司內容的AI優先（AI-first）替代方案所帶來的競爭？

Yes. This is Gustav. Thanks, William. So there's a bunch of questions in here. I don't really like the word moats. I think there are fair advantages that you've earned because you worked really hard.

好的。我是Gustav。謝謝你，William。這裡面有很多問題。我其實不太喜歡「護城河」這個詞。我認為有些是你因為非常努力而贏得的合理優勢。

Some of our fair advantages are that we have almost 20 years of listening history. Some things in the world are facts that can be easily commoditized by LLMs, such as the capital of Texas. Other things are not as easily commoditized, and it turns out luckily for us, taste is not easily commoditized because it's not a fact, it's an opinion.

我們的一些合理優勢在於，我們擁有將近20年的收聽歷史。世界上有些事情是事實，容易被LLM商品化，例如德州的首府是哪裡。但也有些事情不那麼容易被商品化；而幸運的是，品味不容易被商品化，因為它不是事實，而是一種觀點。

It differs between people, regions, and use cases, and it changes weekly with culture. For this reason, we invest quite a lot in our large personalization model basically our own taste model. We use a bunch of third-party services, but not with our core data. We are training proprietary models for that.

品味因人、因地區、因使用情境而異，並且會隨著文化每週變化。因此，我們在大型個人化模型——基本上是我們自己的品味模型——上投入相當多。我們使用一些第三方服務，但不會用在我們的核心資料上。我們為此訓練自有的專有模型。

That gives us a well-earned and durable advantage. Even if someone could snapshot all of our user data across 700 million-plus users and train a model on it, that model would be useless after two or three weeks as culture moves on. You need scale to keep these models valuable, so we feel good about that.

這讓我們擁有一項來之不易且持久的優勢。即使有人能把我們超過7億用戶的所有使用者資料完整快照下來並用來訓練模型，那個模型在兩到三週後也會失去效用，因為文化會持續往前走。你需要規模才能讓這些模型持續有價值，所以我們對此感到很有信心。

Regarding stand-alone low-cost free AI music alternatives, you may be thinking about what's happening in China with services like Soda. That's a fundamentally different market where content was gated between free and paid, and AI challenged that gate. Spotify has never gated on content, and in most Western markets, services are not gated on content. So we don't have that same risk. That said, we do think AI can benefit us, both in expanding the catalog and in serving existing creators.

至於獨立、低成本、免費的AI音樂替代方案，你可能想到的是中國像Soda這類服務正在發生的事。那是個本質上不同的市場，內容在免費與付費之間被設了門檻，而AI挑戰了那道門檻。Spotify從未以內容設門檻；在多數西方市場，服務也不是以內容設門檻。因此我們沒有同樣的風險。話雖如此，我們確實認為AI能讓我們受益，無論是在擴充曲庫，或是在服務既有創作者方面。

All right. Great. Thanks, everyone, for the questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to Gustav for some closing remarks.

好的。很好。謝謝大家的提問。我想把電話會議交回給Gustav做結語。

Thanks, Bryan. This month marked our 20th anniversary 20 years of building what once seemed impossible, innovating for the greatest artists, creators, and authors, and shipping the best and most valuable experience for the world’s most passionate and engaged fans. And there is still a lot more to come from us.

謝謝你，Bryan。這個月是我們的20週年——20年來打造曾經看似不可能的事，為最偉大的藝術家、創作者與作者持續創新，並為全球最熱情、最投入的粉絲提供最佳且最有價值的體驗。而我們接下來還有更多內容要帶給大家。

We hope you'll join us for our upcoming Investor Day on May 21 in New York. We can't wait to show you what it all means for the next chapter of Spotify's growth. Thank you everyone for joining.

我們希望你能在5月21日於紐約參加即將到來的投資人日（Investor Day）。我們迫不及待想向你展示，這一切對Spotify成長下一篇章意味著什麼。感謝各位的參與。

Okay. And that concludes today's call. A replay will be available on our website and on the Spotify app under Spotify Earnings Call Replays. Thanks, everyone, for joining.

好的。今天的電話會議到此結束。重播將可在我們的網站以及Spotify App中的「Spotify Earnings Call Replays」取得。謝謝大家的參與。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以掛線。