Africa-focused music streaming service Mdundo continues to experience strong growth in its monthly active users and paid subscriptions despite a decline in overall revenue. As of September, Mdundo reported 37.8 million monthly active users (MAUs), marking a 29.5% year-on-year increase. The company anticipates reaching 40 million MAUs by the end of the fiscal year 2024/2025, which runs from July 1 to June 30.
In its fiscal Q1 report (calendar Q3), Mdundo disclosed a revenue decline of 5.3%, with total revenue of DKK 11.93 million ($1.74 million). The company attributed the revenue dip to weak African currencies against the Danish krone, despite local currency revenue growing by 10%. Additionally, revenue from paid subscriptions surged 112% in local currencies.
Mdundo’s EBITDA loss narrowed to DKK –6.4 million, down from DKK –7.7 million the previous fiscal year. The company expects further improvement in EBITDA for the 2024/25 fiscal year, projecting a range of DKK –4 million to DKK –5 million, along with a significant revenue increase to DKK 15-17 million ($2.19-2.48 million).
Paid subscription revenues rose by 62% year-on-year, now accounting for 68% of Mdundo’s total revenue, up from 35% in the prior year. This helped offset a 45% drop in advertising revenue, which was impacted by delays in executing the company’s ad sales strategy.
Mdundo has focused on expanding partnerships with African telecoms to drive paid subscription growth. It recently partnered with Globacom Nigeria, which has 61 million customers, and is expected to finalize more telecom agreements during the fiscal year. These partnerships are essential in Africa, where the low penetration of payment cards makes phone-bill payments a more viable option for Mdundo users.
Mdundo also highlighted a challenge it faced in Q1 when a rights organization mistakenly flagged 150,000 of its URLs as copyright infringing, leading to their removal from Google Search and Google Adsense. The issue, which affected user numbers and advertising revenue in July, August, and September, has since been resolved, with the links reinstated as of October. Mdundo expects the situation to normalize in Q2 without long-term effects.
