After trading in a flattish range for the first few years after its 2018 IPO, shares of Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) have spiked over 80% year to date. Some investors are probably looking at Spotify's business today and seeing similarities to Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) around 2012. That was the year Netflix began to step up its game and transition to original content. The hit show House of Cards debuted on Feb. 1, 2013. If you had invested $1,000 in Netflix stock on that day, you would currently have a position worth nearly $20,000.
Spotify is the leader in audio streaming with 286 million monthly active users. Just as Netflix essentially created the market for on-demand video streaming, Spotify has a big growth opportunity by expanding its original content, primarily with podcasts. While I don't believe Spotify will be able to recreate Netflix's stellar returns, the audio streamer's future in podcasts looks very promising based on market research from Nielsen.
Image source: Spotify.
Source Fool.com