Naver (035420.KS) CEO Choi Soo-yeon met with Spotify's Co-CEOs at the streaming company's headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, to discuss strengthening the strategic partnership between the two companies in South Korea, Naver said Monday.
Over two days on June 25-26 (local time), the two sides shared results from their collaboration through Naver Plus membership and navigation services, and discussed directions for advancing their entertainment partnership from a mid-to-long-term perspective. Naver CEO Choi and Spotify Co-CEOs Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström all attended the roundtable. Working-level teams from both companies in areas including business development and marketing also joined to broadly review potential areas of cooperation.
As part of the partnership, Spotify membership has been available through Naver Plus membership since November last year. Users can also enjoy Spotify's audio content through navigation features in Naver's search and map apps.
Both sides particularly noted collaboration results that proved rapid growth potential among younger generations including Gen Z. According to Naver, new Gen Z subscribers to Naver membership rose 17% month-on-month as of December last year, immediately following the Spotify partnership launch.
The two companies agreed to expand cooperation across a wide range of areas including search, marketing and content. In a notable example, Naver's social login service "Login with Naver ID" was integrated into Spotify starting June 19, further enhancing user convenience.
"Korea is an important market where the local creative ecosystem and global connectivity actively intersect," Spotify Co-CEO Alex Norström said. "Our partnership with Naver is built on the belief that when a global platform meets a strong local ecosystem, it can deliver meaningful value to both users and creators."
Spotify Co-CEO Gustav Söderström said, "Collaboration between platforms goes beyond simple integration — what matters is thinking about how we can evolve together." He added, "This meeting was an opportunity to discuss in depth what priorities both companies should pursue in their cooperation from a long-term perspective."
Naver CEO Choi stressed, "We reconfirmed that both companies share a common philosophy and vision in terms of supporting creator growth and enhancing user experience." She added, "We will expand tangible cooperation by combining both companies' services, platform capabilities and brands so that domestic users can experience music and audio content in newer ways."