Webcast listening in May maintained flat performance month-over-month, shaving about one percent of Average Active Sessions (AAS) from April’s total across Triton Digital’s measured Webcast Metrics clients.
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 story was more vigorous in the year-over-year comparison, which shows 17% growth. Interestingly, AM/FM webcasting enjoyed about twice the AAS growth (in percentage terms, not session volume) as pureplay internet streaming. The pureplays are mostly represented by Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio, in terms of number of sessions.
Looking at the year-to-date comparison, stream listening grew 12% from January to May. Each of the three leaders participated in that lift — Pandora (+11%), Spotify (+17%) and iHeartRadio (+12%). Emmis had the highest percentage growth of the whole group, at 18%.
In Triton’s commentary which accompanies today’s report of May metrics, there is a breakdown of listening by age group and, more bluntly, by generation. Unsurprisingly, Millennials stream more than older generations:
Below is the historical chart of the Ranker leaders dating back to September, 2009, showing the trajectory Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio:
Here is the graphic year-over-year comparison of the entire Top 20 group:
