Brazil plays key role in Deezer’s growth strategy | Business

The French company, founded in 2007, has consistently exceeded expectations. In 2024, Deezer reported a loss of €26 million, reducing its losses by 55% compared to the previous year. Revenue from January to December reached €541.7 million, an increase of 11.8% over the same period in 2023.

However, its user base remains small compared to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music, which dominate the music streaming market. Deezer finished last year with 9.7 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Spotify, the market leader with over a 30% share, concluded 2024 with 675 million subscribers.

“The year 2024 was very important for us because we generated cash for the first time, which relieves the pressure to seek investors and allows us to focus on our operations,” Mr. Lanternier told Valor in his first exclusive interview with a Brazilian outlet.

Deezer’s growth last year was driven by improved revenue per subscriber—direct subscriptions increased by 5.5%, and subscriptions through partnerships rose by 2.9%. Additionally, better cost and expense control throughout the year positioned the company for a new strategic cycle.

Given the results, the executive highlights that despite being smaller than the other four major platforms Deezer is “first among the smaller players,” offering greater flexibility to adapt its strategy and focus on growth levers.

“We want to primarily focus on being a music streaming platform with excellent quality, trying to close the gap that still exists between listening to music on physical media and in the digital environment,” Mr. Lanternier reveals.

Deezer’s business model also differs from other platforms due to its focus on partnerships with other companies as a means of distributing its services. In Brazil, the French company has partnerships with Globoplay, Mercado Livre, TIM Brasil, among others, to expand its subscriber base. Globoplay is controlled by Grupo Globo, which also owns Valor.

“This helps Deezer to be sustainable in countries where we want to expand quickly, such as Brazil,” says Mr. Lanternier. The country is currently Deezer’s second-largest market, only behind France, and grew by 18% in subscriber terms last year, compared to 10% in the platform’s home country.

The Deezer CEO states that the Brazilian market holds great significance in the company’s growth strategy. “It’s a market with very young users who enjoy listening to local music, two factors that greatly attract our attention in terms of data.”

To gain market share in Brazil, Deezer is also investing in marketing. The company will sponsor Lady Gaga’s concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro in May, just as it did with Madonna’s performance last year. “It’s a way to connect with fans in a meaningful way,” he notes.

Deezer is trying to gain an edge on rival platforms by offering more personalization features. As a result, users rely less on algorithms. “Our subscribers seek a greater connection with artists, and that is a significant challenge,” Mr. Lanternier says.

Among other challenges, the executive highlights the effort to find a business model that properly rewards artists and record labels for streams on the platform, while also increasing engagement with “superfans” who demand this connection with their favorite artists.

Mr. Lanternier hopes this focus on personalization and connection will help Deezer achieve its financial goals for 2025 and achieve a positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) this year, after reducing the negative indicator from €28.8 million to €4 million.

Deezer shares traded on the Paris Stock Exchange have gained 3.75% this year, but over the past 12 months, they have still declined by 30.4%, mainly impacted by the business’s slow pace of growth over the past year, changes in the management team, and competition with more popular platforms.