Mdundo revenue went up by 161 percent compared to the same period last year, states the music streaming company’s half a year report 2022-2023.
The revenue got in that period from July to December 2022 is Sh115 million ( 6.4 million Danish Krone/DKK).
Also, the report confirmed that at the end of the half-year period, the company had 23.4 million unique monthly active users (MAU), representing an increase of 15% since 30 June 2022.
“The milestone is in-line with our 2025 goal of reaching 50 million monthly active users and driving value per user through premium telco products.”
According to the report, the advertising revenue of the firm went up by 89 percent, whereas the subscriber revenue by 508 percent.
“The company is still expecting total revenue of Sh234 million to Sh289 million (DKK 13-16 million) in the financial year ending 30th June 2023, up from Sh130 million (DKK 7.2 million) last financial year,” stated the report.
The firm’s advertising revenue consists of display banners and audio advertisements embedded into the music tracks.
For instance; a track downloaded from Mdundo has a 5-10 second advertisement playing before the actual track.
“The revenue generated from advertisements closed at Sh775 million (DKK 4.3 million) in the financial period H1 22/23 compared to Sh415 million (DKK 2.3 million) in the period H1 21/22.”
Mdundo has increased revenue from advertising sales significantly within the period.
The total music orders received were 57, up from 47 in the same period last year.The report noted that the majority of the orders were from Kenya. However, a growing number of deals from new commercial focus markets, 15 from Tanzania, eight from Nigeria and 10 from Uganda.
Mdundo has also renewed the one-year advertising agreement with SportPesa, a leading entertainment and sports betting brand.
Subscriber revenue accounts for Sh379 million (DKK 2.1 million) in revenue for the financial period or an estimated 33% of the total revenue for the period.
“The previous H1 revenue from the subscription was at Sh6.2 million (DKK 345,000) showing a six-times increase on the revenue line.”
The Mdundo Premium tier is now available to a total of 185 million customers within Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, and South Africa, or roughly 30% of the 600 million mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mdundo has two tiers namely: Freemium tier or free service, which is ad-supported and Premium tier, which is subscription-based.
“The focus has in the past primarily been on the free service which is advertisement funded, but the company has started focusing more on expanding the Premium subscriber base together with telco-partners.”
The company also launched two new billing partnerships with telecommunication partners in the first half year of 2022-23, with MTN Ghana and MTN South Africa.
The partnerships allow the telecommunication provider’s customers to subscribe to Mdundo music packages offering access to Mdundo Premium as well as exclusively curated DJ mixes only available for paying subscribers.
The customer will pay a daily or weekly fee for the subscription and the product is co-marketed in collaboration with the telco partner.
The company announced at the start of the year that subscription revenue is expected to account for 40% of total revenue within a few years, which is still the case.