The company is looking to further analyze the data about podcasts and premium sign-ups, but believes that it’s “onto something special.” If proven true, we can expect to see Spotify lean even harder in to owning the space, with more paid-for exclusive titles to lock people into subscriptions. It looks as if the music platform will look to become a Netflix for Podcasts, with a number of new and original shows being commissioned.

And Spotify will bolster this podcast push by allowing anyone to make their own podcasts from within the app. Researcher Jane Manchun Wong found a “Create Podcast” button buried inside the app, suggesting that full Anchor — the podcast-creation app Spotify bought — integration isn’t far away. And, with the purchase of SoundBetter, the company will have a thumb in the music production game as well.

Paying user totals have increased from 108 million last quarter to 113 million now, which is close to the top target Spotify set for itself in the summer. Part of that is down to a renewed focus on “winback” campaigns designed to coax people who tried premium, but didn’t pay, to give it another go. And in this quarter, it has offered a number of freebies, from Google Home Minis and long-term trials to selected AT&T customers.

In addition, the rollout of Spotify Duo, where two people can share a single, slightly pricier Premium subscription, in Latin America has been enormously popular. These giveaways do, however, cost, and Spotify is already considering increasing its prices to cover the gap.

Overall, Spotify now has 248 million users, of which 141 million are using the free, ad-supported version. That scale is even showing in the balance sheet, since it made an operating profit of nearly $60 million compared to a $6.7 million loss in 2018. And those figures could have been higher, but for an issue with some infrastructure software that wasn’t properly implemented, costing around $10 million in lost revenue.

Between the end of last quarter and now, Spotify has been the subject of some good news stories that should improve morale. A story suggesting that Amazon’s music platform was growing faster than Spotify was attacked by critics, because while Music Unlimited is growing, it’s still far smaller by comparison. And the wider music industry has seen an uptick in revenues, with streaming now contributing 80 percent of all cash.

And Spotify’s (not quite) war of attrition with Apple over Siri integration appears to have reached a happy ending. After all, Siri on iOS 13 can now let you play Spotify songs from your voice, and there is now a Spotify app on Apple’s TV boxes as well. So, all’s well that ends well — so long as you raise a complaint to the European Commission beforehand.

Netflix just released its results for Q3 in 2019 (PDF), showing that it added slightly fewer subscribers (6.77 million) than the 7 million it anticipated, while still notching an all-time record for the quarter. The company cited lower retention rates in the US since its most recent price hike, and justifies with a statement that “With more revenue, we’ll continue to invest to improve our service to further strengthen our value proposition.” The one thing the company’s investor letter seeks to convince people is that the problem isn’t competition, with the likes of Amazon Prime and Hulu already here ahead of Disney+ and Apple TV+ launching later this year.

Specifically it pulled up a growth chart for Netflix in Canada (as measured by penetration in broadband connected homes) to compare with the US to claim that Hulu’s impact on it doesn’t really exist. With more competition incoming, soothing investor’s nerves will be key. When Disney is dropping three hour trailers for the video it has, the Netflix library will be compared, top to bottom, with these new entrants.

And crucially, these are newcomers adding to Tesla’s ranks. Much like in Q2, “nearly all” of the 79,600 Model 3s delivered in the period went to customers who didn’t hold a reservation. That’s a sign of “strong organic demand,” if you ask Tesla.

Not everything is rosy. Model S and X deliveries were down ever so slightly to 17,400. And remember, these are deliveries, not earnings. Q2’s record deliveries helped Tesla narrow its losses, but it didn’t avoid those losses. Although the company has turned a profit before, it’s lately been struggling to overcome its costs. There’s also the matter of continuing the streak. Shrinking US subsidies have made it more expensive to buy a Tesla, and competition is looming in the Porsche Taycan and more accessible EVs like VW’s ID lineup. In a sense, Tesla is racing to snap up buyers before some of them are lost to competitors.