Spotify flags weaker Q2 profit as marketing spend rises

Spotify is signaling a near-term margin hit from heavier marketing tied to new features, while also acknowledging slower growth in Europe and North America. That combination matters because it puts more pressure on both spend discipline and market expansion in the company’s largest regions. For streaming peers, the key signal is that feature launches are now being paired with more explicit marketing outlays rather than assumed demand lift. Watch Spotify’s next earnings release for the gap between its profit estimate and the actual second-quarter result.