A look at Spotify’s podcast exclusivity strategy, which led to 75% audience drops for some Gimlet shows and caused others, like the Obamas, not to renew deals (Simon Owens/Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter)

Ariel Shapiro / The Verge:
Spotify releases Wrapped 2022 for users, adding a “music personality” feature, and says Joe Rogan, Emma Chamberlain, and others were its top podcasters  —  Spotify Wrapped is here, and with it, a slew of year-end charts, data, and graphics ripe for sharing.

Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters:
Spotify reports Q3 revenue up 21% YoY to €3.04B, MAUs up 20% YoY to 456M vs. 448.6M est., and Premium subs up 13% YoY to 195M; stock drops 6%+ on ad growth miss  —  Audio streaming service Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) Tuesday surpassed Wall Street’s estimates for revenue and subscriber gains …

The Verge:
Spotify updates its iOS app to remove audiobook purchasing options, saying in a message to users that “it’s not ideal”, to comply with Apple’s App Store rules  —  An update for Spotify’s iOS app released Thursday had a big change for its audiobooks vertical — and not for the better.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google expands its user third-party billing pilot to the US, Brazil, and South Africa, with Bumble and Spotify, which will roll out its test this week  —  Google today announced it’s expanding its user choice billing pilot, which allows Android app developers to use other payment systems besides Google’s own.

Hasan Chowdhury / Insider:
Northzone, the European VC firm that backed Spotify and Klarna, has raised a €1B fund, its largest to date, and will allocate ~40% to later-stage investments  —  – Northzone has raised over 1 billion euros (around $1 billion) for a fresh new fund.  — The new fund will be used …

J. Clara Chan / The Hollywood Reporter:
Spotify launches an audiobooks service in the US with 300,000 titles, letting users purchase and download individual books to play in its app  —  The audio giant, which is offering 300,000 audiobooks for purchase at launch, is positioning its books service as separate from its Premium subscription for music and podcasts.