Webcast listening in February grew by 8% compared to January, and notched a 17% rise year-over-year, according to Triton Digital’s monthly Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker, released yesterday. The Ranker includes most major webcasters, both pureplay (Pandora and Spotify being the leaders) and broadcast radio streams (where iHeartRadio leads).
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.
The top three leaders among Triton-measured audio brands all had greater stream listening in February — Pandora (+8%, Spotify +10%, and iHeartRadio (+9%). Other notable monthly winners were Salem and AccuRadio, both gaining 13% month-over-month.
Below is the historical chart of the top eight leaders dating back to September, 2009 (Slacker dropped out of the Triton cohort in November, but is included in this chart):
In the year-over-year view, two clear leaders stand out: AccuRadio (+78%) and Spotify (+55%). Group leader Pandora, sometimes criticized for lack of listening or audience growth, still served 7% more streams on average compared to February 2015.
Here is the graphic year-over-year comparison of the entire Top 20 group:
