Music streaming: Deezer posts black figures for the first time
Despite stagnating revenues, Deezer reports its first annual profit – achieved through strict austerity and withdrawal from weakening markets.
Smartphone with Deezer app open.
(Image: Deezer)
Deezer celebrates the 2025 financial year as a historic turning point: The music streaming service has been profitable on a full-year basis for the first time, with a net result of 8.5 million euros. However, a look behind the facade reveals a strategy of strict consolidation rather than dynamic growth: total revenue stagnated at 534 million euros, which, adjusted for currency effects, even represents a slight decrease of 0.3 percent.
The fact that the French company was still able to report a profit is thanks to significant cost savings: operating expenses were reduced by around 12 million euros, and the marketing budget and personnel costs were significantly lowered.
In its home market of France, Deezer was capable of increasing its direct subscribers by 8.6 percent. However, business with partners collapsed: the number of subscribers in this segment declined by over 24 percent. This is partly due to the end of the cooperation with the Latin American giant Mercado Libre.
From attacker to technology supplier
To reduce its dependence on the weakening private customer business, the provider is increasingly retreating into niches and the B2B sector. Under the new umbrella brand “Deezer for Business”, the company is trying to market its technological infrastructure and expertise as a service. The cornerstone is the commercialization of its own AI detection technology, which, according to the company, can identify and de-monetize up to 85 percent of “fraudulent” AI streams.
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Deezer thus positions itself as a fair pioneer for artist rights, but at the same time creates a new licensing product for the competition. The extension of the partnership with Sonos also serves this purpose: through the integration of the “Deezer Ad Exchange”, its own advertising platform is extended to third-party systems to tap into new, scalable revenue streams beyond its own app.
For 2026, management is deliberately cautious and aims for revenue stabilization. Instead of aggressively regaining market share from industry giants like Spotify, Deezer is focusing on “selective investments” in markets with high profitability potential and continued financial discipline.
(vbr)
