Webcast listening in September gained 2% compared to August numbers in Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics monthly Top 20 Ranker, released today. Perennial leader Pandora was flat from august, while Spotify jumped 7% (same as the previous month). iHeartRadio, third on the list each month, inched down 2%.
As always in RAIN News tracking, we use Average Active Sessions (AAS) as the key metric, through the lens of 6:00am – 12:00am listening, Monday through Sunday.
Continuing a 2016 trend, the year-over-year comparison shows vigorous uplift — 12% more stream listening than September 2015 for the group as a whole. The individual leader in year-over-year listening growth, measured as a percentage of Average Active Sessions, was AccuRadio, as last month, with a leaping 64% increase. (AccuRadio CEO Kurt Hanson is the Founder and Publisher of RAIN News.) New York Public Radio jumped 26% in stream listening year-over-year.
Looking at the year-to-date comparison, stream listening grew 11% from January to September. Pandora participated in the growth by 3%, while Spotify demonstrated more aggressive growth at 31%. (Spotify listening has grown 43% year-over-year.) Listening sessions at iHeartRadio grew 2% compared to January.
Mobile listening accounted for 73% of streams in September — that metric has been in the low 70’s for several months. But in time spent, desktop listening still rules with slightly over one hour, on average, through the Mon-Fri lens, 6:00am to 8:00pm.
Below is the historical chart of the Ranker leaders dating back to September, 2009, showing the trajectory Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio, with terrestrial webcast listening clustered underneath:
Here is the graphic year-over-year comparison of the entire Top 20 group:
