Japan has been an outlier when it comes to the global music trends. The country still remains anchored by CD sales, although streaming continues to grow its share of revenue. The Recording Industry Association of Japan released its second-quarter digital music sales, and all forms of streaming posted triple-digital increases over the first half of 2019. Continue Reading
Canalys has been tracking shipments of smart speakers for the past several years, and its report on the second quarter of 2019 revealed a shakeup in leading brands. Amazon remained the top brand with 6.6 million units shipped for its Echo line securing 25.4% market share. Baidu, based in China, took over the second spot with 4.5 million units. Continue Reading
Stream listening gained about 4% month-over-month in April, according to the Triton Digital Webcast Metrics Top 20 Ranker. As always, RAIN views the information through the lens of 6am – midnight, Monday through Sunday. The key metric is Average Active Sessions (AAS), which measures the average number of simultaneous listeners. Continue Reading
Podtrac’s July 2019 podcast ranker revealed another month of familiar titles. The Daily continued its reign atop the chart, and with NPR’s Up First in the fourth spot, it was another month of big performances for weekday news podcasts. Continue Reading
eMarketer found that the audience for voice assistants in the United States is reaching a critical mass. The company projected that 111.8 million people in the country would use a voice assistant at least monthly in 2019, representing 33.8% of the population. Continue Reading
Smart speaker sales continue to soar around the globe. Strategy Analytics found that unit sales nearly doubled from the second quarter of 2018 to reach 30.3 million in the second quarter of 2019. Continue Reading
Podtrac shared its ranking of the top ten podcast publishers for July 2019. Overall, average U.S. monthly audience remained flat from June and rose 50% from July 2018. Continue Reading
A new survey explored how podcasting is taking off in the United Arab Emirates. Broadcast specialist markettiers MENA and global podcasting consultancy 4DC found that the region has 1.3 million regular podcast listeners. Continue Reading
The RAJAR Midas report surveys UK adults on their audio consumption habits. The summer results reveal age as a key predictor in several audio trends, including in podcasts, on-demand music, and smartphones. Continue Reading
Adobe released the findings from its latest survey into use of voice technology. At this stage in the development of AI assistants, the trend appears to be that voice controls can be useful and offer benefits, the technology comes with a steep learning curve that is limiting uptake. Continue Reading
Strategy Analytics has released a study examining the outlook for terrestrial radio as alterative entertainment options take hold in cars. The survey of 4,790 car owners in the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and China pointed to a downward trend for terrestrial radio in favor of streaming and satellite radio. Continue Reading
Voxnest shared its latest data comparing the popularity of Apple and Spotify for podcast listening. The information from its Voxnest Audience Network revealed that Spotify has taken the lead from Apple in the Netherlands, Germany, and Bulgaria as of June 2019. Continue Reading